1 <!doctype linuxdoc system>
5 <!-- Title information -->
7 <title>The DXSpider Installation and Administration Manual</title>
8 <author>Ian Maude, G0VGS, (ianmaude@btinternet.com)</author>
9 <date>$Date$ $Revision$</date>
11 A reference for SysOps of the DXSpider DXCluster program.
14 <!-- Table of contents -->
17 <!-- Begin the document -->
19 <sect>Installation (Original version by Iain Philipps, G0RDI)
24 This section describes the installation of DX Spider v1.46 on a
25 <htmlurl url="http://www.redhat.com" name="RedHat"> Linux Distribution.
26 Wherever possible I will try to include differences for other distributions.
27 I do not intend to try and cover the installation of Linux or the setup
28 of the AX25 utilities. If you need help on this then read Iains original
29 installation guide that comes with the Spider distribution.
32 I am assuming a general knowledge of Linux and its commands. You should
33 know how to use <em>tar</em> and how to edit files using your favourite editor.
36 The crucial ingredient for all of this is
37 <htmlurl url="http://www.perl.org" name="Perl">. Earlier versions of
38 Spider required perl 5.004, however it is now <it>STRONGLY</it> recommended
39 that you use at least version 5.005_03 as this is the version being used
40 in the development of Spider.
42 <P>In addition to the standard Red Hat distribution you will require the
43 following modules from <htmlurl url="http://www.cpan.org/CPAN.html" name="http://www.cpan.org/CPAN.html"> ...
48 <item> Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz
49 <item> TimeDate-1.10.tar.gz
50 <item> IO-1.20.tar.gz (for perl 5.00403 and lower)
51 <item> Net-Telnet-3.02.tar.gz
52 <item> Curses-1.05.tar.gz
53 <item> Time-HiRes-01.20.tar.gz
59 <em>Do</em> get the latest versions of these packages and install them
60 but use the above list as the earliest versions usable.
65 I will assume that you have already downloaded the latest tarball of
66 the DXSpider software and are ready to install it. I am assuming version
67 1.46 for this section but of course you would use the latest version.
70 Login as root and create a user to run the cluster under. <bf><it>UNDER
71 NO CIRCUMSTANCES USE ROOT AS THIS USER!</it></bf>. I am going to use
72 the name <em>sysop</em>. You can call it anything you wish. Depending
73 on your security requirements you may wish to use an existing user,
74 however this is your own choice.
82 Now set a password for the user ...
87 # Retype new UNIX password:
88 passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully
91 <sect1>Installing the software
94 Now to unpack the DX Spider distribution, set symbolic links and group
95 permissions. Copy the tarball to /home/sysop and do the following.
99 # tar xvfz spider-1.46.tar.gz
100 # ln -s ~sysop/spider /spider
101 # groupadd -g 251 spider (or another number)
104 If you do not have the command <em>groupadd</em> available to you simply
105 add a line in /etc/group by hand.
108 # vi /etc/group (or your favorite editor)
111 You also need to add some others to the group, including your own callsign
112 (this will be used as an alias) and root. The finished line in /etc/group
113 should look something like this
116 spider:x:251:sysop,g0vgs,root
120 The next step is to set the permissions on the Spider directory tree and files ....
123 # chown -R sysop.spider spider
124 # find . -type d -exec chmod 2775 {} \;
125 # find . -type f -exec chmod 775 {} \;
129 This last step allows various users of the group <em>spider</em> to have
130 write access to all the directories. This is not really needed just yet
131 but will be useful when web interfaces start to appear.
134 Finally, you need to fix the permissions on the ax25_call and netrom_call
135 programs. Check where they are with the <em>locate</em> command and alter
136 the permissions with the <em>chmod</em> command like this ..
139 # chown root ax25_call netrom_call
140 # chmod 4775 ax25_call netrom_call
143 <sect1>Setting callsigns etc
146 Now login to your machine as the user you created earlier. In my case that
147 user is called <em>sysop</em>. Once logged in, issue the following commands ....
153 $ cp perl/DXVars.pm.issue local/DXVars.pm
155 $ vi DXVars.pm (or your favourite editor)
159 Using the distributed DXVars.pm as a a template, set your cluster callsign,
160 sysop callsign and other user info to suit your own environment. Note that
161 this a perl file which will be parsed and executed as part of the cluster. If
162 you get it wrong then perl will complain when you start the cluster process.
163 It is important only to alter the text of any section. Some of the lines look
164 a little odd. Take this line for example ....
167 $myemail = "ianmaude\@btinternet.com";
171 There appears to be an extra slash in there. However this has to be there
172 for the file to work so leave it in.
174 <P><bf>PLEASE USE CAPITAL LETTERS FOR CALLSIGNS</bf>
177 DON'T alter any file in /spider/perl, they are overwritten with every
178 release. Any files or commands you place in /spider/local or /spider/local_cmd
179 will automagically be used in preference to the ones in /spider/perl EVEN
180 while the cluster is running!
183 Save the new file and change directory to ../perl ....
190 Now type the following command which creates the basic user file with you as
197 <sect1>Starting up for the first time
200 We can now bring spider up for the first time and see if all is well or not!
201 It should look something like this ...
205 DXSpider DX Cluster Version 1.46
206 Copyright (c) 1998 Dirk Koopman G1TLH
208 loading band data ...
209 loading user file system ...
210 starting listener ...
211 reading existing message headers
213 orft we jolly well go ...
217 If all is well then login on another term or console as <em>sysop</em> and
218 cd to /spider/src. Now issue the following command ...
225 This should log you into the cluster as the sysop under the alias callsign we
226 set earlier. In this case the callsign is G0VGS. The cluster callsign is set
227 in the DXVars.pm file in /spider/local. In this case we will assume that this
228 was set as GB7MBC. You should therefore see this when you login ....
231 G0VGS de GB7MBC 19-Nov-1999 2150Z >
234 If you do, congratulations! If not, look over the instructions again, you
235 have probably missed something out. You can shut spider down again with the
243 and both the cluster and the client should return to Linux prompts.
245 <sect1>The Client program
248 In earlier versions of Spider, all the processes were Perl scripts. This
249 was fine but with a lot of users your computer memory would soon be used up.
250 To combat this a new client was written in "C". This client only works for
251 <em>incoming</em> connects at the moment. Before you can use it though it
252 has to be "made". CD to /spider/src and type <em>make</em>. You
253 should see the output on your screen and hopefully now have a small C program
254 called <em>client</em>. Leave it in this directory.
257 <sect>Quick installation guide
260 This section is designed for experienced Spider sysops who want to install
261 Spider from scratch. It is simply a check list of things that need to be
262 done without any explanations. The name in brackets at the end of each line
263 is the user that should be doing that process.
267 <item>Get the additional CPAN modules and install them (root)
268 <item>Create the "sysop" user and set a password (root)
269 <item>Put the Spider tarball in ~sysop and untar it (root)
270 <item>ln -s ~sysop/spider /spider (root)
271 <item>groupadd -g 251 spider (root)
272 <item>Add any more users you need to the group entry in /etc/group (root)
273 <item>Set the permissions on the spider tree (root)
274 <item>Fix permissions on ax25_call and netrom_call (root)
275 <item>Login as the sysop user
276 <item>cd to /spider (sysop)
277 <item>mkdir local (sysop)
278 <item>mkdir local_cmd (sysop)
279 <item>cp perl/DXVars.pm.issue local/DXVars.pm (sysop)
280 <item>cd to /spider/local and edit DXVars to set your details (sysop)
281 <item>cd ../perl (sysop)
282 <item>./create_sysop.pl (sysop)
283 <item>./cluster.pl (sysop)
286 Spider should now be running and you should be able to login using the
291 <item>Enter the correct line in ax25d.conf (root)
292 <item>Enter the correct line in /etc/services (root)
293 <item>Enter the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf (root)
294 <item>killall -HUP inetd (root)
297 Spider should now be able to accept logins via telnet, netrom and ax25.
301 <item>Start the cluster (sysop)
302 <item>set/node and type for links (sysop)
303 <item>Write any connect scripts (sysop)
304 <item>Edit /spider/crontab as required (sysop)
305 <item>Edit any other files as necessary (sysop)
306 <item>Set filters, hops and forwarding files (sysop)
308 <item>Enter the correct line in /etc/inittab (root)
313 <sect1>Allowing ax25 connects from users
316 As stated previously, the aim of this document is not to tell you how to
317 configure Linux or the ax25 utilities. However, you do need to add a line
318 in your ax25d.conf to allow connections to DXSpider for your users. For
319 each interface that you wish to allow connections on, use the following format ...
322 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
325 or, if you wish your users to be able to use SSID's on their callsigns ..
328 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %s ax25
331 For most purposes this is not desirable. The only time you probably will need this is
332 when you need to allow other cluster nodes that are using SSID's in. In this case it
333 owuld probably be better to use the first example and then add a specific line for that
337 GB7DJK-2 * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client gb7djk-2 ax25
338 default * * * * * * - sysop /spider/src/client client %u ax25
341 <sect1>Allowing telnet connects from users
344 From version 1.47 there is a new (more efficient) way of doing this (see next section) but,
345 if you prefer, the method of doing it described here will continue to work just fine.
348 Allowing telnet connections is quite simple. Firstly you need to add a line
349 in /etc/services to allow connections to a port number, like this ....
352 spdlogin 7300/tcp # spider anonymous login port
355 Then add a line in /etc/inetd.conf like this ....
358 spdlogin stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /spider/src/client login telnet
362 Once this is done, you need to restart inetd like this ....
369 <P>Now login as <em>sysop</em> and cd spider/src. You can test that spider
370 is accepting telnet logins by issuing the following command ....
373 ./client login telnet
376 You should get a login prompt and on issuing a callsign, you will be given
377 access to the cluster. Note, you will not get a password login. There seems
378 no good reason for a password prompt to be given so it is not asked for.
381 Assuming all is well, then try a telnet from your linux console ....
384 telnet localhost 7300
388 You should now get the login prompt and be able to login as before.
390 <sect1>Setting up telnet connects (from 1.47 onwards)
393 From version 1.47 you can chose to allow the perl cluster.pl program to
394 allow connections direct (i.e. not via the <tt>/spider/src/client</tt>
395 interface program). If you are using Windows then this is the only method
396 available of allowing incoming telnet connections.
399 To do this you need first to remove any line that you may previously have set
400 up in /etc/inetd.conf. Remember to:-
407 to make the change happen...
410 Having done that then you need to copy the file
411 <tt>/spider/perl/Listeners.pm</tt> to <tt>/spider/local</tt> and
412 then edit it. You will need to uncomment the line containing &dquot;0.0.0.0&dquot;
413 and select the correct port to listen on. So that it looks like this:-
421 <p>As standard, the listener will listen on all interfaces simultaniously. If you require more
422 control than this, you can specify each interface individually:-
426 ["gb7baa.dxcluster.net", 7300],
427 ["44.131.16.2", 6300],
431 <p>This will only be successful if the IP addresses on each interface are static.
432 If you are using some kind of dynamic IP addressing then the 'default' method is the
433 only one which will work.
436 Restart the cluster.pl program to enable the listener.
439 One important difference with the internal listener is that no echoing is done by the
440 cluster program. Users will need to set 'local-echo' on in their telnet clients if
441 it isn't set automatically (as per the standards). Needless to say this will probably
442 only apply to Windows users.
444 <sect1>Setting up for AGW Engine (1.47 onwards)
446 <p>AGW Engine is a Windows based ax25 stack. You can connect to an AGW engine from Linux
447 as well as Windows based machines.
449 <p>In order to enable access to an AGW Engine you need to copy <tt>/spider/perl/AGWConnect.pm</tt>
450 to <tt>/spider/local</tt> and edit it. Specifically you must:-
453 <item> set <tt>$enable</tt> to 1.
454 <item> set <tt>$login</tt> and <tt>$passwd</tt> to the values set up in your AGW installation.
455 If you haven't set any there, then you should not touch these values.
456 <item> You can connect to a remote AGW engine (ie on some other machine) by changing <tt>$addr</tt>
457 and <tt>$port</tt> appropriately.
458 <item> Restart the cluster.pl program
462 <sect1>Setting up node connects
465 In order to allow cluster node connections, spider needs to know that the
466 connecting callsign is a cluster node. This is the case whether the connect
467 is incoming or outgoing. In spider this is a simple task and can be done in
471 Later versions of Spider can distinguish different software and treat them
472 differently. For example, the WCY beacon cannot be handles by AK1A type
473 nodes as AK1A does not know what to do with PC73. There are 4 different
474 types of node at present and although they may not have any major
475 differences at the moment, it allows for compatibility. The 4 types are ...
485 For now, we will assume that the cluster we are going to connect to is an
489 Start up the cluster as you did before and login as the sysop with client.
490 The cluster node I am wanting to make a connection to is GB7BAA but you would
491 obviously use whatever callsign you required. At the prompt type ...
498 The case does not matter as long as you have a version of DXSpider later than
499 1.33. Earlier versions required the callsign to be in upper case.
502 That is now set, it is as simple as that. To prove it, login on yet another
503 console as sysop, cd to spider/src and issue the command ...
506 ./client gb7baa (using the callsign you set as a node)
510 You should get an initialisation string from DXSpider like this ...
517 If the callsign you just set up as a cluster node is for an incoming connect,
518 this is all that needs to be done. If the connection is to be outgoing then
519 a connection script needs to be written.
522 Sometimes you make a mistake... Honest, it does happen. If you want to make a node
523 back to being a normal user, regardless
524 of what type it is, do:
530 <sect1>Connection scripts
533 Because DXSpider operates under Linux, connections can be made using just about
534 any protocol; AX25, NETRom, tcp/ip, ROSE etc are all possible examples.
535 Connect scripts live in the /spider/connect directory and are simple ascii files.
536 Writing a script for connections is therefore relatively simple.
539 The connect scripts consist of lines which start with the following keywords
544 <tag/#/All lines starting with a <tt>#</tt> are ignored, as are completely
547 <tag/timeout/<tt>timeout</tt> followed by a number is the number of seconds to wait for a
548 command to complete. If there is no timeout specified in the script
549 then the default is 60 seconds.
551 <tag/abort/ <tt>abort</tt> is a regular expression containing one or more strings to look
552 for to abort a connection. This is a perl regular expression and is
553 executed ignoring case.
555 <tag/connect/<tt>connect</tt> followed by ax25, agw (for Windows users) or telnet and some type dependent
556 information. In the case of a telnet connection, there can be up to
558 The first is the ip address or hostname of the computer you wish to
559 connect to and the second is the port number you want to use (this
560 can be left out if it is a normal telnet session).
561 In the case of an ax25 session then this would normally be a call to
562 ax25_call or netrom_call as in the example above. It is your
563 responsibility to get your node and other ax25 parameters to work
564 before going down this route!
566 <tag/'/<tt>'</tt> is the delimiting character for a word or phrase of an expect/send
567 line in a chat type script. The words/phrases normally come in pairs,
568 either can be empty. Each line reads input from the connection until
569 it sees the string (or perl regular expression) contained in the
570 left hand string. If the left hand string is empty then it doesn't
571 read or wait for anything. The comparison is done ignoring case.
572 When the left hand string has found what it is looking for (if it is)
573 then the right hand string is sent to the connection.
574 This process is repeated for every line of chat script.
576 <tag/client/<tt>client</tt> starts the connection, put the arguments you would want here
577 if you were starting the client program manually. You only need this
578 if the script has a different name to the callsign you are trying to
579 connect to (i.e. you have a script called other which actually
580 connects to GB7DJK-1 [instead of a script called gb7djk-1]).
584 There are many possible ways to configure the script but here are three examples,
585 one for a NETRom/AX25 connect, one for AGW engines and one for tcp/ip.
589 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
590 # don't forget to chmod 4775 netrom_call!
591 connect ax25 /usr/sbin/netrom_call bbs gb7djk g1tlh
595 # you can leave this out if you call the script 'gb7dxm'
603 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
604 # this does exactly the same as the previous example
605 # the '1' is the AGW port number to connect thru for g1tlh
610 # you can leave this out if you call the script 'gb7dxm'
618 connect telnet dirkl.tobit.co.uk
621 # tell GB7DJK-1 that it is connected to GB7DJK
622 # you can leave this out if you call this script 'gb7djk'
627 Both these examples assume that everything is set up properly at the other end.
628 You will find other examples in the /spider/examples directory.
630 <sect1>Starting the connection
633 You start the connection, from within a sysop enabled cluster login, by typing
634 in the word <em>connect</em> followed by a script name like this ....
637 G0VGS de GB7MBC 13-Dec-1998 2041Z >connect gb7djk-1
638 connection to GB7DJK-1 started
639 G0VGS de GB7MBC 13-Dec-1998 2043Z >
642 This will start a connection using the script called <em>gb7djk-1</em>. You can
643 follow the connection by watching the term or console from where you started
644 <em>cluster.pl</em>. From version 1.47 onwards, you will need to <tt>set/debug connect</tt> first.
645 You should see something like this ...
648 <- D G1TLH connect gb7djk-1
649 -> D G1TLH connection to GB7DJK-1 started
650 -> D G1TLH G1TLH de GB7DJK 13-Dec-1998 2046Z >
652 CONNECT sort: telnet command: dirkl.tobit.co.uk
653 CHAT "login" -> "gb7djk"
655 Red Hat Linux release 5.1 (Manhattan)
656 Kernel 2.0.35 on an i586
660 CHAT "word" -> "gb7djk"
662 received "Password: "
664 Connected to GB7DJK-1, starting normal protocol
667 GB7DJK-1 channel func state 0 -> init
669 <- D GB7DJK-1 Last login: Sun Dec 13 17:59:56 from dirk1
670 <- D GB7DJK-1 PC38^GB7DJK-1^~
671 <- D GB7DJK-1 PC18^ 1 nodes, 0 local / 1 total users Max users 0 Uptime
678 With later versions of Spider there is a set/login command for users. This
679 tells them when a user or node logs in or out. If you do not add a line to
680 your scripts after the final line (or before the client line which should always
681 be last if needed) then the login/logout information will be sent to users
682 <it>before</it> the login actually completes. This means if a node is
683 unreachable, it will continue sending logins and logouts to users even though it
684 is not actually connecting. To avoid this use the following line ...
691 In a script, this might look like ...
695 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
696 connect telnet mary 3000
698 '>' 'telnet 44.131.93.96 7305'
705 Cluster links in particular suffer greatly from the presence of telnet echo.
706 This is caused by the telnet negotiation itself and can create at worst severe
707 loops. At best it creates unnecessary bandwidth and large logfiles! There are
708 things that can be done to limit this problem but will not always work dependent
709 on the route taken to connect.
712 Telnet echo itself should only be a problem if the connection is being made to
713 the telnet port (23). This port uses special rules that include echo negotiation.
714 If the connection is to a different port, such as 7300, this negotiation does
715 not happen and therefore no echo should be present.
718 Sometimes it is not possible to make a direct connection to another node and this
719 can cause problems. There is a way of trying to suppress the telnet echo but
720 this will not always work, unfortunately it is difficult to be more specific.
721 Here is an example of what I mean ...
725 abort (Busy|Sorry|Fail)
726 connect telnet mary.lancs.ac.uk
729 '\$' 'stty -echo raw'
730 '\$' 'telnet 44.131.93.96'
734 So, the first connection is made by Spider. This is fine as Spider uses the
735 Net_Telnet script from within perl. This actually uses TCP rather than TELNET
736 so no negotiation will be done on the first connection. Once connected to
737 mary.lancs.ac.uk, the command is sent to suppress echo. Now a telnet is made
738 to a cluster node that is accepting connections on port 23. The problem with
739 this link is that the negotiation is made by the remote machine, therefore you
740 have no control over it. The chances are that this link will create echo and
741 there will be no way you can stop it.
744 <sect>Automating things
747 Ok, you should now have DXSpider running nicely and allowing connects by cluster
748 nodes or users. However, it has to be shutdown and restarted manually and if
749 connection scripts fail they have to be started again manually too, not much use
750 if you are not at the console! So, in this section we will automate both.
751 Firstly starting the cluster.
753 <sect1>Autostarting the cluster
756 This is not only a way to start the cluster automatically, it also works as a
757 watchdog, checking the sanity of DXSpider and respawning it should it crash for
758 any reason. Before doing the following, shutdown the cluster as you did earlier.
761 Login as root and bring up the /etc/inittab file in your favourite editor. Add
762 the following lines to the file near the end ...
765 ##Start DXSpider on bootup and respawn it should it crash
766 DX:3:respawn:/bin/su -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" sysop >/dev/tty7
770 This line works fine for RedHat distributions. It is also fine for SuSE up to
771 7.0. From Suse 7.1 you need to add runlevels 2 and 5 like this ...
774 DX:235:respawn:/bin/su -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" sysop >/dev/tty7
778 The line required for Slackware distributions is slightly different. My thanks to
779 Aurelio, PA3EZL for this information.
782 DX:23:respawn:/bin/su - sysop -c "/usr/bin/perl -w /spider/perl/cluster.pl" >/dev/tty7
786 This will automatically start DXSpider on tty7 (ALT-F7) on bootup and restart
787 it should it crash for any reason.
790 As root type the command <em>telinit q</em>. DXSpider should start up
791 immediately. You will see the output on tty7 and if you login as <em>sysop</em>
792 you should find everything running nicely.
795 So far so good, now to automate script connections...
797 <sect1>The crontab file
800 Login as <em>sysop</em> and create a file in /spider/local_cmd called crontab.
801 Edit it with your favourite editor and add a line like this (I have included
805 # check every 10 minutes to see if gb7xxx is connected and if not
806 # start a connect job going
808 0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * start_connect('gb7xxx') if unless connected('gb7xxx')
812 The callsign involved will be the callsign of the cluster node you are
813 going to connect to. This will now check every 10 minutes to see if
814 gb7xxx is connected, if it is then nothing will be done. If it is not,
815 then a connect attempt will be started.
818 There are probably lots of other things you could use this crontab file for.
819 If you want to know more about it, look at the
820 <htmlurl url="http://www.dxcluster.org/cron.html" name="DXSpider"> website
821 at the cron page where it is explained more fully.
826 Starting with version 1.13 there is simple hop control available on a per
827 node basis. Also it is possible to isolate a network completely so that you
828 get all the benefits of being on that network, but can't pass on information
829 from it to any other networks you may be connected to (or vice versa).
831 <sect1>Basic hop control
834 In /spider/data you will find a file called hop_table.pl. This is the file
835 that controls your hop count settings. It has a set of default hops on the
836 various PC frames and also a set for each node you want to alter the hops for.
837 You may be happy with the default settings of course, but this powerful tool
838 can help to protect and improve the network. The file will look something
843 # hop table construction
848 # default hopcount to use
851 # some variable hop counts based on message type
862 # the per node hop control thingy
894 Each set of hops is contained within a pair of curly braces and contains a
895 series of PC frame types. PC11 for example is a DX spot. The figures here
896 are not exhaustive but should give you a good idea of how the file works.
899 You can alter this file at any time, including whilst the cluster is running.
900 If you alter the file during runtime, the command <em>load/hops</em> will
901 bring your changes into effect.
903 <sect1>Isolating networks
906 It is possible to isolate networks from each other on a "gateway" node using the
907 <em>set/isolate <node_call></em> command.
910 The effect of this is to partition an isolated network completely from another
911 nodes connected to your node. Your node will appear on and otherwise behave
912 normally on every network to which you are connected, but data from an isolated
913 network will not cross onto any other network or vice versa. However all the
914 spot, announce and WWV traffic and personal messages will still be handled
915 locally (because you are a real node on all connected networks), that is locally
916 connected users will appear on all networks and will be able to access and
917 receive information from all networks transparently. All routed messages will
918 be sent as normal, so if a user on one network knows that you are a gateway for
919 another network, he can still still send a talk/announce etc message via your
920 node and it will be routed across.
923 The only limitation currently is that non-private messages cannot be passed down
924 isolated links regardless of whether they are generated locally. This will change
925 when the bulletin routing facility is added.
928 If you use isolate on a node connection you will continue to receive all
929 information from the isolated partner, however you will not pass any information
930 back to the isolated node. There are times when you would like to forward only
931 spots across a link (maybe during a contest for example). To do this, isolate
932 the node in the normal way and put in a filter in the /spider/filter/spots
933 directory to override the isolate. This filter can be very simple and consists
934 of just one line ....
938 [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 3] # The last figure (3) is the hop count
943 There is a lot more on filtering in the next section.
945 <sect>Filtering (Old Style upto v1.44)
948 Filters can be set for spots, announcements and WWV. You will find the
949 directories for these under /spider/filter. You will find some examples in
950 the directories with the suffix <em>.issue</em>. There are two types of
951 filter, one for incoming information and one for outgoing information.
952 Outgoing filters are in the form <em>CALLSIGN.pl</em> and incoming filters
953 are in the form <em>in_CALLSIGN.pl</em>. Filters can be set for both nodes
957 All filters work in basically the same way. There are several elements
958 delimited by commas. There can be many lines in the filter and they are
959 read from the top by the program. When writing a filter you need to think
960 carefully about just what you want to achieve. You are either going to write
961 a filter to <em>accept</em> or to <em>reject</em>. Think of a filter as
962 having 2 main elements. For a reject filter, you would have a line or multiple
963 lines rejecting the things you do not wish to receive and then a default line
964 accepting everything else that is not included in the filter. Likewise, for an
965 accept filter, you would have a line or multiple lines accepting the things you
966 wish to receive and a default line rejecting everthing else.
969 In the example below, a user requires a filter that would only return SSB spots
970 posted in Europe on the HF bands. This is achieved by first rejecting the CW
971 section of each HF band and rejecting all of VHF, UHF etc based on frequency.
972 Secondly, a filter rule is set based on CQ zones to only accept spots posted in
973 Europe. Lastly, a default filter rule is set to reject anything outside the filter.
977 [ 0, 0, 'r', # reject all CW spots
987 30000.0, 49000000000.0,
989 [ 1, 11, 'n', [ 14, 15, 16, 20, 33, ], 15 ], #accept EU
990 [ 0, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else
995 The actual elements of each filter are described more fully in the following
1001 The elements of the Spot filter are ....
1004 [action, field_no, sort, possible_values, hops]
1008 There are 3 elements here to look at. Firstly, the action element. This is
1009 very simple and only 2 possible states exist, accept (1) or drop (0).
1012 The second element is the field_no. There are 13 possiblities to choose from
1018 2 = date in unix format
1021 5 = spotted dxcc country
1022 6 = spotter's dxcc country
1028 12 = callsign of the channel on which the spot has appeared
1032 The third element tells us what to expect in the fourth element. There are
1033 4 possibilities ....
1036 n - numeric list of numbers e.g. [ 1,2,3 ]
1037 r - ranges of pairs of numbers e.g. between 2 and 4 or 10 to 17 - [ 2,4, 10,17 ]
1038 a - an alphanumeric regex
1039 d - the default rule
1043 The fifth element is simply the hops to set in this filter. This would only
1044 be used if the filter was for a node of course and overrides the hop count in
1048 So, let's look at an example spot filter. It does not matter in the example
1049 who the filter is to be used for. So, what do we need in the filter? We need
1050 to filter the spots the user/node requires and also set a default rule for
1051 anything else outside the filter. Below is a simple filter that stops spots
1052 arriving from outside Europe.
1054 <tscreen><verb>$in = [
1055 [ 0, 4, 'a', '^(K|N|A|W|VE|VA|J)'], # 0 = drop, 'a' = alphanumeric
1056 [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else
1061 So the filter is wrapped in between a pair of square brackets. This tells
1062 Spider to look in between these limits. Then each line is contained within
1063 its own square brackets and ends with a comma. Lets look carefully at the first
1064 line. The first element is 0 (drop). Therefore anything we put on this line
1065 will not be accepted. The next element is 4. This means we are filtering by
1066 the spotter. The third element is the letter "a" which tells the program to
1067 expect an alphanumeric expression in the fourth element. The fourth element
1068 is a list of letters separated by the pipe symbol.
1071 What this line does is tell the program to drop any spots posted by anyone in
1072 the USA, Canada or Japan.
1075 The second line is the default rule for anything else. The "d" tells us this
1076 and the line simply reads... accept anything else.
1079 You can add as many lines as you need to complete the filter but if there are
1080 several lines of the same type it is neater to enclose them all as one line.
1081 An example of this is where specific bands are set. We could write this like
1085 [ 0,0,'r',[1800.0, 2000.0], 1],
1086 [ 0,0,'r',[10100.0, 10150.0], 1],
1087 [ 0,0,'r',[14000.0, 14350.0], 1],
1088 [ 0,0,'r',[18000.0, 18200.0], 1],
1092 But the line below achieves the same thing and is more efficient ....
1097 1800.0, 2000.0, # top band
1098 10100.0, 10150.0, # WARC
1099 14000.0, 14350.0, # 20m
1100 18000.0, 18200.0, # WARC
1105 <sect1>Announcements
1110 # This is an example announce or filter allowing only West EU announces
1112 # The element list is:-
1113 # 0 - callsign of announcer
1114 # 1 - destination * = all, <callsign> = routed to the node
1116 # 3 - * - sysop, <some text> - special list eg 6MUK, ' ', normal announce
1118 # 5 - 0 - announce, 1 - wx
1119 # 6 - channel callsign (the interface from which this spot came)
1122 [ 1, 0, 'a', '^(P[ABCDE]|DK0WCY|G|M|2|EI|F|ON)' ],
1127 In this example, only the prefixes listed will be allowed. It is possible to
1128 be quite specific. The Dutch prefix "P" is followed by several secondary
1129 identifiers which are allowed. So, in the example, "PA" or "PE" would be ok
1130 but not "PG". It is even possible to allow information from a single callsign.
1131 In the example this is DK0WCY, to allow the posting of his Aurora Beacon.
1138 # This is an example WWV filter
1140 # The element list is:-
1141 # 0 - nominal unix date of spot (ie the day + hour:13)
1149 # 8 - incoming interface callsign
1151 # this one doesn't filter, it just sets the hop count to 6 and is
1152 # used mainly just to override any isolation from WWV coming from
1162 It should be noted that the filter will start to be used only once a user/node
1163 has logged out and back in again.
1165 I am not going to spend any more time on these filters now as they will become
1166 more "comprehensive" in the near future.
1168 <sect>Filtering (New Style v1.45 and later)
1170 <sect1>General filter rules
1173 Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters. From
1174 v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set filters for just
1175 about anything you wish. If you have just updated from an older version of
1176 DXSpider you will need to update your new filters. You do not need to do
1177 anything with your old filters, they will be renamed as you update.
1180 There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These
1181 are <em>accept</em>, <em>reject</em> and <em>clear</em>. First we will look
1182 generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in the
1183 DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism.
1186 In general terms you can create a 'reject' or an 'accept' filter which can have
1187 up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ...
1194 where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There are filters
1195 for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects. See each different
1196 accept or reject command reference for more details.
1198 There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ...
1205 There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter.
1208 and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ...
1215 For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same
1216 principles to all types of filter.
1218 <sect1>Types of filter
1221 There are two main types of filter, <em>accept</em> or <em>reject</em>. You
1222 can use either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference
1223 and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of reject
1224 filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each filter has 10
1225 lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a line matches then the
1226 action you have specified is taken (ie reject means ignore it and accept
1230 If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match the filter
1231 will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use an accept filter,
1232 then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted and all else will be dumped.
1233 For example if you have a single line <em>accept</em> filter ...
1236 accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
1239 then you will <em>ONLY</em> get VHF spots <em>from</em> or <em>to</em> CQ zones
1243 If you set a reject filter like this ...
1246 reject/spots on hf/cw
1249 Then you will get everything <em>EXCEPT</em> HF CW spots. You could make this
1250 single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested in IOTA
1251 and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not interested in
1252 CW, then you could say ...
1255 reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
1258 But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
1261 accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
1264 which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the other
1265 until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix them if you
1266 wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the same line) but
1267 don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you are doing!
1270 You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own
1271 understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
1274 reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
1275 reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
1278 What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots on VHF
1279 which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe.
1282 This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this case), if
1283 you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits '0'-'9' are available.
1284 This make it easier to see just what filters you have set. It also makes it
1285 more simple to remove individual filters, during a contest for example.
1288 You will notice in the above example that the second line has brackets. Look
1289 at the line logically. You can see there are 2 separate sections to it. We
1290 are saying reject spots that are VHF or above <em>APART</em> from those in
1291 zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or originated there). If you did
1292 not have the brackets to separate the 2 sections, then Spider would read it
1293 logically from the front and see a different expression entirely ...
1296 (on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
1299 The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets. Whilst we are
1300 here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the same as 'and by_zone'.
1302 As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible than
1303 simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that if you want
1304 to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one or more lines of it or
1305 one line. For example ...
1308 reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
1311 would redefine our earlier example, or
1317 To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
1323 <sect1>Filter options
1326 You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the
1327 various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
1329 <sect1>Default filters
1332 Sometimes all that is needed is a general rule for node connects. This can
1333 be done with a node_default filter. This rule will always be followed, even
1334 if the link is isolated, unless another filter is set specifically. Default
1335 rules can be set for nodes and users. They can be set for spots, announces,
1336 WWV and WCY. They can also be used for hops. An example might look like
1340 accept/spot node_default by_zone 14,15,16,20,33
1341 set/hops node_default spot 50
1344 This filter is for spots only, you could set others for announce, WWV and WCY.
1345 This filter would work for ALL nodes unless a specific filter is written to
1346 override it for a particular node. You can also set a user_default should
1347 you require. It is important to note that default filters should be
1348 considered to be "connected". By this I mean that should you override the
1349 default filter for spots, you need to add a rule for the hops for spots also.
1351 <sect1>Advanced filtering
1354 Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment.
1357 The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU
1358 can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
1363 acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
1366 Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This will
1367 automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have said <em>reject all
1368 HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept all others at HF. Also
1369 accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or by operators in the zones
1370 14, 15 and 16</em>. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and
1371 an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot.
1374 It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match, the default
1375 for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for 'accept'. In the example
1376 what happens is that the reject is executed first, any non hf/cw spot is passed
1377 to the accept line, which lets through everything else on HF. The next filter line
1378 lets through just VHF/UHF spots from EU.
1383 <sect1>Filtering Mail
1386 In the /spider/msg directory you will find a file called badmsg.pl.issue. Rename
1387 this to badmsg.pl and edit the file. The original looks something like this ....
1391 # the list of regexes for messages that we won't store having
1392 # received them (bear in mind that we must receive them fully before
1396 # The format of each line is as follows
1398 # type source pattern
1399 # P/B/F T/F/O/S regex
1401 # type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull)
1402 # source: T - to field, F - from field, O - origin, S - subject
1403 # pattern: a perl regex on the field requested
1405 # Currently only type B and P msgs are affected by this code.
1407 # The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches
1408 # causes the action to be taken.
1410 # The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected
1411 # for the action specified
1429 I think this is fairly self explanatory. It is simply a list of subject
1430 headers that we do not want to pass on to either the users of the cluster or
1431 the other cluster nodes that we are linked to. This is usually because of
1432 rules and regulations pertaining to items for sale etc in a particular country.
1434 <sect1>Filtering DX callouts (Depricated)
1437 <bf><it>From version 1.47, this method is replaced by the command set/baddx</it></bf>
1440 In the same way as mail, there are some types of spot we do not wish to pass on
1441 to users or linked cluster nodes. In the /spider/data directory you will find
1442 a file called baddx.pl.issue. Rename this to baddx.pl and edit the file. The
1443 original looks like this ....
1447 # the list of dx spot addresses that we don't store and don't pass on
1468 Again, this is simply a list of names we do not want to see in the spotted
1469 field of a DX callout.
1472 <sect1>Filtering words from text fields in Announce, Talk and DX spots
1475 Create a file in /spider/data called <em>badwords</em>. The format is quite
1476 simple. Lines beginning with # are ignored so comments can be added. An
1477 example file is below ...
1480 # Below is a list of words we do not wish to see on the cluster
1481 grunge grunged grunging
1482 splodge splodger splodging
1487 Multiple words can be used on the same line as shown. Obviously these
1488 are just examples :-)
1491 You can reload the file from the cluster prompt as sysop with load/badwords.
1496 DXSpider deals seamlessly with standard AK1A type mail. It supports both
1497 personal and bulletin mail and the sysop has additional commands to ensure
1498 that mail gets to where it is meant. DXSpider will send mail almost
1499 immediately, assuming that the target is on line. However, only one
1500 mail message is dealt with at any one time. If a mail message is already
1501 being sent or recieved, then the new message will be queued until it has
1504 The cluster mail is automatically deleted after 30 days unless the sysop
1505 sets the "keep" flag using the <em>msg</em> command.
1507 <sect1>Personal mail
1510 Personal mail is sent using the <em>sp</em> command. This is actually the
1511 default method of sending mail and so a simple <em>s</em> for send will do.
1512 A full list of the send commands and options is in the <em>command set</em>
1513 section, so I will not duplicate them here.
1515 <sect1>Bulletin mail
1518 Bulletin mail is sent by using the <em>sb</em> command. This is one of the
1519 most common mistakes users make when sending mail. They send a bulletin
1520 mail with <em>s</em> or <em>sp</em> instead of <em>sb</em> and of course
1521 the message never leaves the cluster. This can be rectified by the sysop
1522 by using the <em>msg</em> command.
1524 <P>Bulletin addresses can be set using the Forward.pl file.
1529 DXSpider receives all and any mail sent to it without any alterations needed
1530 in files. Because personal and bulletin mail are treated differently, there
1531 is no need for a list of accepted bulletin addresses. It is necessary, however,
1532 to tell the program which links accept which bulletins. For example, it is
1533 pointless sending bulletins addresses to "UK" to any links other than UK
1534 ones. The file that does this is called forward.pl and lives in /spider/msg.
1535 At default, like other spider files it is named forward.pl.issue. Rename it
1536 to forward.pl and edit the file to match your requirements.
1537 The format is below ...
1541 # this is an example message forwarding file for the system
1543 # The format of each line is as follows
1545 # type to/from/at pattern action destinations
1546 # P/B/F T/F/A regex I/F [ call [, call ...] ]
1548 # type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull)
1549 # to/from/at: T - to field, F - from field, A - home bbs, O - origin
1550 # pattern: a perl regex on the field requested
1551 # action: I - ignore, F - forward
1552 # destinations: a reference to an array containing node callsigns
1554 # if it is non-private and isn't in here then it won't get forwarded
1556 # Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code.
1558 # The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches
1559 # causes the action to be taken.
1561 # The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected
1562 # for the action specified
1564 # If the BBS list is undef or 0 and the action is 'F' (and it matches the
1565 # pattern) then it will always be forwarded to every node that doesn't have
1566 # it (I strongly recommend you don't use this unless you REALLY mean it, if
1567 # you allow a new link with this on EVERY bull will be forwarded immediately
1568 # on first connection)
1574 'B', 'T', 'LOCAL', 'F', [ qw(GB7MBC) ],
1575 'B', 'T', 'ALL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1576 'B', 'T', 'UK', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
1577 'B', 'T', 'QSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1578 'B', 'T', 'QSLINF', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1579 'B', 'T', 'DX', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1580 'B', 'T', 'DXINFO', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1581 'B', 'T', 'DXNEWS', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1582 'B', 'T', 'DXQSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1583 'B', 'T', 'SYSOP', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
1584 'B', 'T', '50MHZ', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
1588 Simply insert a bulletin address and state in the brackets where you wish
1589 that mail to go. For example, you can see here that mail sent to "UK" will
1590 only be sent to the UK links and not to PA4AB-14.
1593 To force the cluster to reread the file use load/forward
1596 <sect1>The msg command
1599 The <em>msg</em> command is a very powerful and flexible tool for the
1600 sysop. It allows the sysop to alter to and from fields and make other
1601 changes to manage the cluster mail.
1603 Here is a full list of the various options ...
1606 MSG TO <msgno> <call> - change TO callsign to <call>
1607 MSG FRom <msgno> <call> - change FROM callsign to <call>
1608 MSG PRrivate <msgno> - set private flag
1609 MSG NOPRrivate <msgno> - unset private flag
1610 MSG RR <msgno> - set RR flag
1611 MSG NORR <msgno> - unset RR flag
1612 MSG KEep <msgno> - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever)
1613 MSG NOKEep <msgno> - unset the keep flag
1614 MSG SUbject <msgno> <new> - change the subject to <new>
1615 MSG WAittime <msgno> - remove any waiting time for this message
1616 MSG NOREad <msgno> - mark message as unread
1617 MSG REad <msgno> - mark message as read
1618 MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins
1619 MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages
1622 These commands are simply typed from within the cluster as the sysop user.
1624 <sect1>Message status
1627 You can check on a message from within the cluster by using the command
1628 <em>stat/msg</em>. This will give you additional information on the
1629 message number including which nodes have received it, which node it
1630 was received from and when etc. Here is an example of the output of
1634 G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
1637 Msg Time: 26-Jan-2001 1302Z
1641 Subject: AMSAT 2line KEPS 01025.AMSAT
1643 Got it Nodes: GB7BAA, GB7ADX
1647 G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
1650 <sect1>Filtering mail
1653 This is described in the section on <em>Other filters</em> so I will not
1656 <sect1>Distribution lists
1659 Distribution lists are simply a list of users to send certain types of
1660 mail to. An example of this is mail you only wish to send to other
1661 sysops. In /spider/msg there is a directory called <em>distro</em>. You
1662 put any distibution lists in here. For example, here is a file called
1663 SYSOP.pl that caters for the UK sysops.
1666 qw(GB7TLH GB7DJK GB7DXM GB7CDX GB7BPQ GB7DXN GB7MBC GB7MBC-6 GB7MDX
1667 GB7NDX GB7SDX GB7TDX GB7UDX GB7YDX GB7ADX GB7BAA GB7DXA GB7DXH
1668 GB7DXK GB7DXI GB7DXS)
1671 Any mail sent to "sysop" would only be sent to the callsigns in this list.
1673 <sect1>BBS interface
1676 Spider provides a simple BBS interface. No input is required from the sysop
1677 of the cluster at all. The BBS simply sets the cluster as a BBS and pushes
1678 any required mail to the cluster. No mail can flow from Spider to the BBS,
1679 the interface is one-way.
1682 Please be careful not to flood the cluster network with unnecessary mail.
1683 Make sure you only send mail to the clusters that want it by using the
1684 Forward.pl file very carefully.
1689 Spider allows the creation of local or remote databases. It supports
1690 chained databases, allowing several different databases to be scanned
1691 with one simple command. Importing of databases is limited at present
1692 to the standard AK1A databases such as OBLAST and the DB0SDX QSL
1693 database but will expand with time.
1695 <sect1>Creating databases
1698 Creating a database could not be more simple. All the commands are
1699 sent from the cluster prompt as the <em>sysop</em> user.
1701 To create a database you use the command <em>dbcreate</em>. It can
1702 be used in 3 different ways like so ..
1708 To simply create a database locally, you just tell the command the
1709 name of the database. This does not create the actual database, it
1710 simply defines it to say that it exists.
1713 dbcreate <name> chain <name> [<name>...]
1716 This creates a chained database entry. The first database will be
1717 scanned, then the second, the third etc...
1720 dbcreate <name> remote <name>
1723 This creates a remote entry. the first name field is the database
1724 name at the remote node, then the remote switch, then the actual
1725 node_call of the remote node, for example...
1728 dbcreate buckmaster remote gb7dxc
1731 Remote databases cannot be chained, however, the last database in a
1732 chain can be a remote database.
1734 <sect1>Importing databases
1737 The only databases that Spider can currently import are the standard
1738 AK1A databases such as OBLAST or the DB0SDX qsl and address database.
1739 This will be added to with time.
1741 To import such a database, first put the file somewhere useful like /tmp
1742 and then issue the following command ...
1745 dbimport oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL
1748 This will update the existing local oblast database or create it if
1751 <sect1>Checking available databases
1754 Once a database is created, you will want to check that it has been
1755 added. To do this use the <em>dbavail</em> command. This will
1756 output the available databases. For example ...
1760 DB Name Location Chain
1764 G0VGS de GB7MBC 3-Feb-2001 1925Z >
1767 <sect1>Looking up databases
1770 To look for information in a defined database, simply use the <em>dbshow</em>
1771 command, for example ...
1774 dbshow buckmaster G0YLM
1777 will show the information for the callsign G0YLM from the buckmaster
1778 database if it exists. To make things more standard for the users
1779 you can add an entry in the Aliases file so that it looks like a standard
1780 <em>show</em> command like this ...
1783 '^sh\w*/buc', 'dbshow buckmaster', 'dbshow',
1786 Now you can simply use show/buckmaster or an abreviation.
1788 <sect1>Removing databases
1791 To delete an existing database you use the <em>dbremove</em> command.
1798 would remove the oblast database and its associated datafile from the
1799 system. There are no warnings or recovery possible from this command.
1800 If you remove a database it ceases to exist and would have to be created
1801 from scratch if you still required it.
1803 <sect>Information, files and useful programs
1808 One of the more important things a cluster sysop needs to do is to get
1809 information to his users. The simplest way to do this is to have a banner
1810 that is sent to the user on login. This is know as a "message of the day"
1811 or "motd". To set this up, simply create a file in /spider/data called motd
1812 and edit it to say whatever you want. It is purely a text file and will be
1813 sent automatically to anyone logging in to the cluster.
1815 <sect1>Downtime message
1818 If for any reason the cluster is down, maybe for upgrade or maintenance but
1819 the machine is still running, a message can be sent to the user advising them
1820 of the fact. This message lives in the /spider/data directory and is called
1821 "offline". Simply create the file and edit it to say whatever you wish.
1822 This file will be sent to a user attempting to log into the cluster when
1823 DXSpider is not actually running.
1825 <sect1>Other text messages
1828 You can set other text messages to be read by the user if they input the file
1829 name. This could be for news items or maybe information for new users.
1830 To set this up, make a directory under /spider called <em>packclus</em>.
1831 Under this directory you can create files called <em>news</em> or <em>newuser</em>
1832 for example. In fact you can create files with any names you like. These can
1833 be listed by the user with the command ....
1839 They can be read by the user by typing the command ....
1845 If the file they want to read is called <em>news</em>. You could also set
1846 an alias for this in the Alias file to allow them just to type <em>news</em>
1849 You can also store other information in this directory, either directly or
1850 nested under directories. One use for this would be to store DX bulletins
1851 such as the OPDX bulletins. These can be listed and read by the user.
1852 To keep things tidy, make a directory under /spider/packclus called
1853 <em>bulletin</em>. Now copy any OPDX or similar bulletins into it. These
1854 can be listed by the user in the same way as above using the <em>show/files</em>
1855 command with an extension for the bulletin directory you have just created,
1863 An example would look like this ....
1867 bulletin DIR 20-Dec-1999 1715Z news 1602 14-Dec-1999 1330Z
1870 You can see that in the files area (basically the packclus directory) there is a
1871 file called <em>news</em> and a directory called <em>bulletin</em>. You can
1872 also see that dates they were created. In the case of the file <em>news</em>,
1873 you can also see the time it was last modified, a good clue as to whether the
1874 file has been updated since you last read it. To read the file called
1875 <em>news</em> you would simply issue the command ....
1881 To look what is in the bulletin directory you issue the command ....
1885 opdx390 21381 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx390.1 1670 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1886 opdx390.2 2193 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx391 25045 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1887 opdx392 35969 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx393 15023 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1888 opdx394 33429 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx394.1 3116 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1889 opdx395 24319 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx396 32647 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1890 opdx396.1 5537 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx396.2 6242 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1891 opdx397 18433 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx398 19961 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1892 opdx399 17719 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx400 19600 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1893 opdx401 27738 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx402 18698 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1894 opdx403 24994 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx404 15685 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1895 opdx405 13984 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx405.1 4166 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1896 opdx406 28934 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx407 24153 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1897 opdx408 15081 29-Nov-1999 1621Z opdx409 23234 29-Nov-1999 1621Z
1898 Press Enter to continue, A to abort (16 lines) >
1901 You can now read any file in this directory using the type command, like this ....
1904 type bulletin/opdx391
1905 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 391
1906 The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
1910 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
1911 Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
1912 Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1 (New Area Code!)
1913 Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX
1914 Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, K1XN & Golist, WB2RAJ/WB2YQH
1915 & The 59(9) DXReport, W3UR & The Daily DX, K3TEJ, KN4UG, W4DC, NC6J, N6HR,
1916 Press Enter to continue, A to abort (508 lines) >
1919 The page length will of course depend on what you have it set to!
1921 <sect1>The Aliases file
1924 You will find a file in /spider/cmd/ called Aliases. First, copy this file to
1925 /spider/local_cmd/Aliases and edit this file. You will see something like this ...
1931 # provide some standard aliases for commands for terminally
1932 # helpless ak1a user (helpless in the sense that they never
1933 # read nor understand help files)
1935 # This file is automagically reloaded if its modification time is
1936 # later than the one stored in CmdAlias.pm
1938 # PLEASE make this file consistant with reality! (the patterns MUST
1939 # match the filenames!)
1941 # Don't alter this file, copy it into the local_cmd tree and modify it.
1942 # This file will be replaced everytime I issue a new release.
1944 # You only need to put aliases in here for commands that don't work as
1945 # you desire naturally, e.g sh/dx on its own just works as you expect
1946 # so you need not add it as an alias.
1954 '^\?', 'apropos', 'apropos',
1957 '^ann.*/full', 'announce full', 'announce',
1958 '^ann.*/sysop', 'announce sysop', 'announce',
1959 '^ann.*/(.*)$', 'announce $1', 'announce',
1966 '^del', 'kill', 'kill',
1967 '^del\w*/fu', 'kill full', 'kill',
1968 '^di\w*/a\w*', 'directory all', 'directory',
1969 '^di\w*/b\w*', 'directory bulletins', 'directory',
1970 '^di\w*/n\w*', 'directory new', 'directory',
1971 '^di\w*/o\w*', 'directory own', 'directory',
1972 '^di\w*/s\w*', 'directory subject', 'directory',
1973 '^di\w*/t\w*', 'directory to', 'directory',
1974 '^di\w*/f\w*', 'directory from', 'directory',
1975 '^di\w*/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory',
1992 '^l$', 'directory', 'directory',
1993 '^ll$', 'directory', 'directory',
1994 '^ll/(\d+)', 'directory $1', 'directory',
1999 '^news', 'type news', 'type',
2009 '^r$', 'read', 'read',
2010 '^rcmd/(\S+)', 'rcmd $1', 'rcmd',
2013 '^s/p$', 'send', 'send',
2014 '^sb$', 'send noprivate', 'send',
2015 '^set/home$', 'set/homenode', 'set/homenode',
2016 '^set/nobe', 'unset/beep', 'unset/beep',
2017 '^set/nohe', 'unset/here', 'unset/here',
2018 '^set/noan', 'unset/announce', 'unset/announce',
2019 '^set/nodx', 'unset/dx', 'unset/dx',
2020 '^set/nota', 'unset/talk', 'unset/talk',
2021 '^set/noww', 'unset/wwv', 'unset/wwv',
2022 '^set/nowx', 'unset/wx', 'unset/wx',
2023 '^sh$', 'show', 'show',
2024 '^sh\w*/buck', 'dbshow buck', 'dbshow',
2025 '^sh\w*/bu', 'show/files bulletins', 'show/files',
2026 '^sh\w*/c/n', 'show/configuration nodes', 'show/configuration',
2027 '^sh\w*/c$', 'show/configuration', 'show/configuration',
2028 '^sh\w*/com', 'dbavail', 'dbavail',
2029 '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/dx $1-$2', 'show/dx',
2030 '^sh\w*/dx/(\d+)', 'show/dx $1', 'show/dx',
2031 '^sh\w*/dx/d(\d+)', 'show/dx from $1', 'show/dx',
2032 '^sh\w*/email', 'dbshow email', 'dbshow',
2033 '^sh\w*/hftest', 'dbshow hftest', 'dbshow',
2034 '^sh\w*/vhftest', 'dbshow vhftest', 'dbshow',
2035 '^sh\w*/qsl', 'dbshow qsl', 'dbshow',
2036 '^sh\w*/tnc', 'who', 'who',
2037 '^sh\w*/up', 'show/cluster', 'show/cluster',
2038 '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)-(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1-$2', 'show/wwv',
2039 '^sh\w*/w\w*/(\d+)', 'show/wwv $1', 'show/wwv',
2040 '^sp$', 'send', 'send',
2044 '^ta$', 'talk', 'talk',
2045 '^t$', 'talk', 'talk',
2052 '^wx/full', 'wx full', 'wx',
2053 '^wx/sysop', 'wx sysop', 'wx',
2064 You can create aliases for commands at will. Beware though, these may not
2065 always turn out as you think. Care is needed and you need to test the
2066 results once you have set an alias.
2071 In later versions of Spider a simple console program is provided for the sysop.
2072 This has a type ahead buffer with line editing facilities and colour for spots,
2073 announces etc. To use this program, simply use console.pl instead of client.
2076 To edit the colours, copy /spider/perl/Console.pl to /spider/local and edit the
2077 file with your favourite editor.
2079 <sect1>Updating kepler data
2082 Spider has a powerful and flexible show/satellite command. In order for
2083 this to be accurate, the kepler data has to be updated regularly. In
2084 general, this data is available as an email or via cluster mail.
2085 Updating it is simple. First you need to export the mail message as a
2086 file. You do this with the <em>export</em> command from the cluster prompt
2087 as the sysop. For example ...
2090 export 5467 /spider/perl/keps.in
2093 would export message number 5467 as a file called keps.in in the
2094 /spider/perl directory.
2096 Now login to a VT as sysop and cd /spider/perl. There is a command in
2097 the perl directory called <em>convkeps.pl</em>. All we need to do now is
2098 convert the file like so ...
2101 ./convkeps.pl keps.in
2104 Now go back to the cluster and issue the command ...
2110 That is it! the kepler data has been updated.
2112 <sect1>The QRZ callbook
2115 The command <em>sh/qrz</em> will only work once you have followed a few
2116 simple steps. First you need to get a user ID and password from qrz.com.
2117 Simply go to the site and create one. Secondly you need to copy the file
2118 /spider/perl/Internet.pm to /spider/local and alter it to match your user
2119 ID and password. You also at this point need to set $allow=1 to complete
2120 the setup. Many thanks to Fred Lloyd, the proprieter of
2121 <htmlurl url="http://www.qrz.com" name="qrz.com"> for allowing this access.
2126 CVS stands for "Concurrent Versions System" and the CVS for DXSpider is held
2127 at <htmlurl url="http://www.sourceforge.net" name="Sourceforge">. This means
2128 that it is possible to update your DXSpider installation to the latest
2129 sources by using a few simple commands.
2132 THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!! ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE A TEST
2133 INSTALLATION OR ARE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR CLUSTER CRASH ON YOU!!!
2134 THIS MUST BE CONSIDERED AT LEAST BETA TESTING AND MAYBE EVEN ALPHA!!
2135 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
2138 DID I MENTION..... ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE
2142 I am of course assuming that you have a machine with both DXSpider and
2143 Internet access running.
2146 BEFORE YOU EVEN CONSIDER STARTING WITH THIS MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR
2147 ENTIRE SPIDER TREE!!
2150 Assuming you are connected to the Internet, you need to login to the
2151 CVS repository and then update your Spider source. There are several
2152 steps which are listed below ...
2155 First login as the user <em>sysop</em>. Next you need to connect to the CVS
2156 repository. You do this with the command below ...
2159 cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.DXSpider.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dxspider login
2162 You will get a password prompt. Simply hit return here and your machine should
2163 return to a normal linux prompt.
2166 What happens next depends on whether you have an existing installation that
2167 you want to update with the latest and greatest or whether you just want
2168 to see what is there and/or run it on a new machine for testing.
2170 If you are installing Spider from CVS then change directory to /home/sysop
2172 If you are wanting to update Spider then cd to /tmp
2175 The next step will create a brand new 'spider' directory in your current
2179 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.DXSpider.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dxspider co spider
2182 This command is all on one line.
2185 Hopefully your screen should show you downloading files. The -z3 simply compresses
2186 the download to improve speed.
2187 When this has finished, you will have exactly the same as if you had untarred a full
2188 tarball PLUS some extra directories and files that CVS needs to do the magic that
2192 Now if you are doing a new installation, that's it. Carry on as if you have
2193 just downloaded and untarred the lastest tarball.
2196 If you want to upgrade your current installation then do this ...
2199 tar cvfz /tmp/s.tgz spider
2201 tar xvfzp /tmp/s.tgz
2204 This is assuming you downloaded to the /tmp directory of course.
2207 NOTE: the 'p' on the end of the 'xvfz' is IMPORTANT! It keeps the permissions
2208 correct. YOU WERE LOGGED IN AS THE USER SYSOP WEREN'T YOU?????
2210 Remember to recompile the C client (cd /spider/src; make)
2213 At this point the files have been upgraded. You can (usually) restart the cluster
2214 in your own time. However, if you attempt to use any new commands or features
2215 expect it to be fatal! At least your cluster will have been restarted then so it
2216 will be too late to worry about it!
2219 Now the magic part! From now on when you want to update, simply connect to the
2220 Internet and then, as the user <em>sysop</em> ...
2227 and your files will be updated. As above, remember to recompile the "C" client
2228 if it has been updated (CVS will tell you) and restart if any of the perl scripts
2229 have been altered or added, again, CVS will tell you.
2232 You will find any changes documented in the /spider/Changes file.
2234 <sect>The DXSpider command set
2237 Below is a complete list of commands available from the cluster prompt.
2238 Most maintenance tasks are automatic but there are some commands that are useful
2239 for a sysop. These are listed below in alphabetical order. The number in
2240 brackets following the command name is the permissions level needed to use
2243 <sect1>accept/announce (0)
2247 <bf>accept/announce [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set an accept filter
2252 Create an 'accept this announce' line for a filter.
2254 An accept filter line means that if the announce matches this filter it is
2255 passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this
2256 to understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.
2258 You can use any of the following things in this line:-
2261 info <string> eg: iota or qsl
2262 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
2264 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
2265 origin_itu <numbers>
2266 origin_zone <numbers>
2271 wx 1 filter WX announces
2272 dest <prefixes> eg: 6MUK,WDX (distros)
2279 acc/ann 2 by_zone 14,15,16
2280 (this could be all on one line: acc/ann dest 6MUK or by_zone 14,15,16)
2289 This filter would only allow announces that were posted buy UK stations.
2290 You can use the tag 'all' to accept everything eg:
2296 but this probably for advanced users...
2298 <sect1>accept/announce (extended for sysops) (8)
2302 <bf>accept/announce <call> [input] [0-9]<pattern></bf> Announce filter sysop version
2306 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
2307 default for nodes and users eg:-
2311 accept/ann input node_default by G,M,2
2312 accept/ann user_default by G,M,2
2315 <sect1>accept/spots (0)
2319 <bf>accept/announce [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set an accept filter
2324 Create an 'accept this spot' line for a filter.
2327 An accept filter line means that if the spot matches this filter it is
2328 passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this
2329 to understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.
2331 You can use any of the following things in this line:-
2334 freq <range> eg: 0/30000 or hf or hf/cw or 6m,4m,2m
2335 on <range> same as 'freq'
2336 call <prefixes> eg: G,PA,HB9
2337 info <string> eg: iota or qsl
2339 call_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
2350 For frequencies, you can use any of the band names defined in
2351 SHOW/BANDS and you can use a subband name like: cw, rtty, data, ssb -
2352 thus: hf/ssb. You can also just have a simple range like: 0/30000 -
2353 this is more efficient than saying simply: freq HF (but don't get
2354 too hung up about that)
2360 acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
2363 You can use the tag 'all' to accept everything, eg:
2369 but this probably for advanced users...
2371 <sect1>accept/spots (extended for sysops) (8)
2375 <bf>accept/spots <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf> Spot filter sysop version
2379 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
2380 default for nodes and users eg:-
2383 accept/spot db0sue-7 1 by_zone 14,15,16
2384 accept/spot node_default all
2385 set/hops node_default 10
2387 accept/spot user_default by G,M,2
2390 <sect1>accept/wcy (0)
2394 <bf>accept/wcy [0-9] <pattern></bf> set an accept WCY filter
2398 It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can
2399 filter on the following fields:-
2402 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
2404 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
2405 origin_itu <numbers>
2406 origin_zone <numbers>
2414 There are no examples because WCY Broadcasts only come from one place and
2415 you either want them or not (see UNSET/WCY if you don't want them).
2417 This command is really provided for future use.
2419 See HELP FILTER for information.
2421 <sect1>accept/wcy (extended for sysops) (8)
2425 <bf>accept/wcy <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf>
2426 WCY filter sysop version
2430 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
2431 default for nodes and users eg:-
2434 accept/wcy node_default all
2435 set/hops node_default 10
2438 <sect1>accept/wwv (0)
2442 <bf>accept/wwv [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set an accept WWV filter
2446 It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can
2447 filter on the following fields:-
2450 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
2452 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
2453 origin_itu <numbers>
2454 origin_zone <numbers>
2464 accept/wwv by_zone 4
2467 is probably the only useful thing to do (which will only show WWV broadcasts
2468 by stations in the US).
2470 See HELP FILTER for information.
2472 <sect1>accept/wwv (extended for sysops) (8)
2476 <bf>accept/wwv <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf>
2477 WWV filter sysop version
2481 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
2482 default for nodes and users eg:-
2485 accept/wwv db0sue-7 1 by_zone 4
2486 accept/wwv node_default all
2487 set/hops node_default 10
2489 accept/wwv user_default by W,K
2496 <bf>announce <text></bf> Send an announcement to local users
2500 Send an announcement to LOCAL users only, where <text> is the text
2501 of the announcement you wish to broadcast
2503 <sect1>announce full (0)
2507 <bf>announce full <text></bf> Send an announcement cluster wide
2511 This command will send your announcement across the whole cluster
2515 <sect1>announce sysop (5)
2519 <bf>announce sysop <text></bf>
2523 Send an announcement to Sysops only
2529 <bf>apropos <string></bf> Search the help database
2533 Search the help database for <string> (it isn't case sensitive),
2534 and print the names of all the commands that may be relevant.
2540 <bf>bye</bf> Exit from the cluster
2544 This will disconnect you from the cluster
2550 <bf>catchup <node_call> All|[<msgno> ...]</bf>
2551 Mark a message as sent
2555 When you send messages the fact that you have forwarded it to another node
2556 is remembered so that it isn't sent again. When you have a new partner
2557 node and you add their callsign to your /spider/msg/forward.pl file, all
2558 outstanding non-private messages will be forwarded to them. This may well
2559 be ALL the non-private messages. You can prevent this by using these
2564 catchup GB7DJK 300 301 302 303 500-510
2567 and to undo what you have just done:-
2570 uncatchup GB7DJK all
2571 uncatchup GB7DJK 300 301 302 303 500-510
2574 which will arrange for them to be forward candidates again.
2576 Order is not important.
2578 <sect1>clear/spots (0)
2582 <bf>clear/spots [1|all]</bf> Clear a spot filter line
2586 This command allows you to clear (remove) a line in a spot filter or to
2587 remove the whole filter.
2589 If you have a filter:-
2593 acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
2602 you will be left with:-
2605 acc/spot 2 on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
2614 the filter will be completely removed.
2621 <bf>connect <callsign></bf> Start a connection to another DX Cluster
2625 Start a connection process that will culminate in a new connection to the
2626 DX cluster <callsign>. This process creates a new 'client' process which will
2627 use the script in /spider/connect/<callsign> to effect the 'chat' exchange
2628 necessary to traverse the network(s) to logon to the cluster <callsign>.
2634 <bf>dbavail</bf> Show a list of all the databases in the system
2638 The title says it all really, this command lists all the databases defined
2639 in the system. It is also aliased to SHOW/COMMAND.
2645 <bf>dbcreate <name></bf> Create a database entry<newline>
2646 <bf>dbcreate <name> chain <name> [<name>..]</bf> Create a
2647 chained database entry<newline>
2648 <bf>dbcreate <name> remote <node></bf> Create a remote database
2653 DBCREATE allows you to define a database in the system. It doesn't actually
2654 create anything, just defines it.
2656 The databases that are created are simple DB_File hash databases, they are
2657 therefore already 'indexed'.
2659 You can define a local database with the first form of the command eg:
2663 You can also chain databases with the addition of the 'chain' keyword.
2664 This will search each database one after the other. A typical example
2667 DBCREATE sdx_qsl chain sql_ad
2669 No checking is done to see if the any of the chained databases exist, in
2670 fact it is usually better to do the above statement first then do each of
2671 the chained databases.
2673 Databases can exist offsite. To define a database that lives on another
2676 DBCREATE buckmaster remote gb7dxc
2678 Remote databases cannot be chained; however, the last database in a
2679 a chain can be a remote database eg:
2681 DBCREATE qsl chain gb7dxc
2683 To see what databases have been defined do:
2685 DBAVAIL (or it will have been aliased to SHOW/COMMAND)
2687 It would be normal for you to add an entry into your local Aliases file
2688 to allow people to use the 'SHOW/<dbname>' style syntax. So you would
2689 need to add a line like:-
2695 '^sh\w*/buc', 'dbshow buckmaster', 'dbshow',
2705 to work as they may be used to.
2707 See DBIMPORT for the importing of existing AK1A format data to databases.
2708 See DBSHOW for generic database enquiry
2714 <bf>dbimport <dbname></bf> Import AK1A data into a database
2718 If you want to import or update data in bulk to a database you can use
2719 this command. It will either create or update entries into an existing
2720 database. For example:-
2722 DBIMPORT oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL
2724 will import the standard OBLAST database that comes with AK1A into the
2725 oblast database held locally.
2731 <bf>dbremove <dbname></bf> Delete a database
2735 DBREMOVE will completely remove a database entry and also delete any data
2736 file that is associated with it.
2738 There is no warning, no comeback, no safety net.
2744 will remove the oblast database from the system and it will also remove
2745 the associated datafile.
2749 There is no warning, no comeback, no safety net.
2751 You have been warned.
2757 <bf>dbshow <dbname> <key></bf> Display an entry, if it exists,
2762 This is the generic user interface to the database to the database system.
2763 It is expected that the sysop will add an entry to the local Aliases file
2764 so that users can use the more familiar AK1A style of enquiry such as:
2770 but if he hasn't and the database really does exist (use DBAVAIL or
2771 SHOW/COMMAND to find out) you can do the same thing with:
2782 <bf>debug</bf> Set the cluster program into debug mode
2786 Executing this command will only have an effect if you are running the cluster
2793 It will interrupt the cluster just after the debug command has finished.
2795 <sect1>directory (0)
2799 <bf>directory</bf> List messages<newline>
2800 <bf>directory all</bf> List all messages<newline>
2801 <bf>directory own</bf> List your own messages<newline>
2802 <bf>directory new</bf> List all new messages<newline>
2803 <bf>directory to <call></bf> List all messages to <call><newline>
2804 <bf>directory from <call></bf> List all messages from <call><newline>
2805 <bf>directory subject <string></bf> List all messages with <string>
2807 <bf>directory <nn></bf> List last <nn> messages<newline>
2808 <bf>directory <from>-<to></bf> List messages <from> message <to> message <newline>
2812 List the messages in the messages directory.
2814 If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
2815 personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
2816 'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
2818 You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
2821 You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
2826 DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
2829 You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
2837 <sect1>directory (extended for sysops) (5)
2840 Works just like the user command except that sysops can see ALL messages.
2842 <sect1>disconnect (8)
2846 <bf>disconnect <call> [<call> ...]</bf> Disconnect a user or node
2850 Disconnect any <call> connected locally
2856 <bf>dx [by <call>] <freq> <call> <remarks></bf> Send a DX spot
2860 This is how you send a DX Spot to other users. You can, in fact, now
2861 enter the <freq> and the <call> either way round.
2869 will all give the same result. You can add some remarks to the end
2870 of the command and they will be added to the spot.
2873 DX FR0G 144600 this is a test
2876 You can credit someone else by saying:-
2879 DX by G1TLH FR0G 144.600 he isn't on the cluster
2882 The <freq> is compared against the available bands set up in the
2883 cluster. See SHOW/BANDS for more information.
2889 <bf>export <msgno> <filename></bf> Export a message to a file
2893 Export a message to a file. This command can only be executed on a local
2894 console with a fully privileged user. The file produced will be in a form
2895 ready to be imported back into the cluster by placing it in the import
2896 directory (/spider/msg/import).
2898 This command cannot overwrite an existing file. This is to provide some
2899 measure of security. Any files written will owned by the same user as the
2900 main cluster, otherwise you can put the new files anywhere the cluster can
2901 access. For example:-
2905 <sect1>export_users (9)
2909 <bf>export_users [<filename>]</bf> Export the users database to ascii
2913 Export the users database to a file in ascii format. If no filename
2914 is given then it will export the file to /spider/data/user_asc.
2916 If the file already exists it will be renamed to <filename>.o. In fact
2917 up to 5 generations of the file can be kept each one with an extra 'o' on the
2920 BE WARNED: this will write to any file you have write access to. No check is
2921 made on the filename (if any) that you specify.
2923 <sect1>forward/latlong (8)
2927 <bf>forward/latlong <node_call></bf> Send latitude and longitude
2928 information to another cluster
2932 This command sends all the latitude and longitude information that your
2933 cluster is holding against callsigns. One advantage of recieving this
2934 information is that more locator information is held by you. This
2935 means that more locators are given on the DX line assuming you have
2936 <em>set/dxgrid</em> enabled. This could be a LOT of information though, so
2937 it is not recommended on slow links.
2939 <sect1>forward/opername (1)
2943 <bf>forward/opername <call></bf> Send out information on this <call>
2948 This command sends out any information held in the user file which can
2949 be broadcast in PC41 protocol packets. This information is Name, QTH, Location
2950 and Homenode. PC41s are only sent for the information that is available.
2956 <bf>help <cmd></bf> Get help on a command
2960 All commands can be abbreviated, so SHOW/DX can be abbreviated
2961 to SH/DX, ANNOUNCE can be shortened to AN and so on.
2963 Look at the APROPOS <string> command which will search the help database
2964 for the <string> you specify and give you a list of likely commands
2965 to look at with HELP.
2971 <bf>init <node call></bf> Re-initialise a link to an AK1A compatible node
2975 This command attempts to re-initialise a link to a (usually) AK1A node
2976 that has got confused, usually by a protocol loop of some kind. It may
2977 work - but you usually will be better off simply disconnecting it (or
2978 better, if it is a real AK1A node, doing an RCMD <node> DISC/F <your
2981 Best of luck - you will need it.
2987 <bf>kill <msgno> [<msgno> ..]</bf> Delete a message
2988 from the local system
2992 Delete a message from the local system. You will only be able to
2993 delete messages that you have originated or been sent (unless you are
3000 <bf>kill <msgno> [<msgno> ...]</bf> Remove or erase a message from
3002 <bf>kill from <call></bf> Remove all messages from a callsign<newline>
3003 <bf>kill to <call></bf> Remove all messages to a callsign<newline>
3007 You can get rid of any message to or originating from your callsign using
3008 this command. You can remove more than one message at a time.
3010 As a sysop you can kill any message on the system.
3012 <sect1>kill full (5)
3016 <bf>kill full <msgno> [<msgno>]</bf> Delete a message from the
3021 Delete a message (usually a 'bulletin') from the whole cluster system.
3023 This uses the subject field, so any messages that have exactly the same subject
3024 will be deleted. Beware!
3030 <bf>links</bf> Show which nodes are physically connected
3034 This is a quick listing that shows which links are connected and
3035 some information about them. See WHO for a list of all connections.
3038 <sect1>load/aliases (9)
3042 <bf>load/aliases</bf> Reload the command alias table
3046 Reload the /spider/cmd/Aliases file after you have editted it. You will need to
3047 do this if you change this file whilst the cluster is running in order for the
3048 changes to take effect.
3051 <sect1>load/baddx (9)
3055 <bf>load/baddx</bf> Reload the bad DX table
3059 Reload the /spider/data/baddx.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst
3060 the cluster is running. This table contains the DX Calls that, if spotted,
3061 will not be passed on. FR0G and TEST are classic examples.
3063 <sect1>load/badmsg (9)
3067 <bf>load/badmsg</bf> Reload the bad message table
3071 Reload the /spider/msg/badmsg.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst
3072 the cluster is running. This table contains a number of perl regular
3073 expressions which are searched for in the fields targetted of each message.
3074 If any of them match then that message is immediately deleted on receipt.
3076 <sect1>load/badwords (9)
3080 <bf>load/badwords</bf> Reload the badwords file
3084 Reload the /spider/data/badwords file if you have changed it manually whilst
3085 the cluster is running. This file contains a list of words which, if found
3086 on certain text portions of PC protocol, will cause those protocol frames
3087 to be rejected. It will all put out a message if any of these words are
3088 used on the announce, dx and talk commands. The words can be one or
3089 more on a line, lines starting with '#' are ignored.
3091 <sect1>load/bands (9)
3095 <bf>load/bands</bf> Reload the band limits table
3099 Reload the /spider/data/bands.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst
3100 the cluster is running.
3102 <sect1>load/cmd_cache (9)
3106 <bf>load/cmd_cache</bf> Reload the automatic command cache
3110 Normally, if you change a command file in the cmd or local_cmd tree it will
3111 automatially be picked up by the cluster program. Sometimes it can get confused
3112 if you are doing a lot of moving commands about or delete a command in the
3113 local_cmd tree and want to use the normal one again. Execute this command to
3114 reset everything back to the state it was just after a cluster restart.
3116 <sect1>load/forward (9)
3120 <bf>load/forward</bf> Reload the msg forwarding routing table
3123 Reload the /spider/msg/forward.pl file if you have changed it
3124 manually whilst the cluster is running.
3126 <sect1>load/messages (9)
3130 <bf>load/messages</bf> Reload the system messages file
3134 If you change the /spider/perl/Messages file (usually whilst fiddling/writing ne
3135 commands) you can have them take effect during a cluster session by executing this
3136 command. You need to do this if get something like :-
3138 unknown message 'xxxx' in lang 'en'
3140 <sect1>load/prefixes (9)
3144 <bf>load/prefixes</bf> Reload the prefix table
3148 Reload the /spider/data/prefix_data.pl file if you have changed it manually
3149 whilst the cluster is running.
3155 <bf>merge <node> [<no spots>/<no wwv>]</bf> Ask for the
3156 latest spots and WWV
3160 MERGE allows you to bring your spot and wwv database up to date. By default
3161 it will request the last 10 spots and 5 WWVs from the node you select. The
3162 node must be connected locally.
3164 You can request any number of spots or wwv and although they will be appended
3165 to your databases they will not duplicate any that have recently been added
3166 (the last 2 days for spots and last month for WWV data).
3172 <bf>msg <cmd> <msgno> [data ...]</bf> Alter various message
3177 Alter message parameters like To, From, Subject, whether private or bulletin
3178 or return receipt (RR) is required or whether to keep this message from timing
3182 MSG TO <msgno> <call> - change TO callsign to <call>
3183 MSG FRom <msgno> <call> - change FROM callsign to <call>
3184 MSG PRrivate <msgno> - set private flag
3185 MSG NOPRrivate <msgno> - unset private flag
3186 MSG RR <msgno> - set RR flag
3187 MSG NORR <msgno> - unset RR flag
3188 MSG KEep <msgno> - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever)
3189 MSG NOKEep <msgno> - unset the keep flag
3190 MSG SUbject <msgno> <new> - change the subject to <new>
3191 MSG WAittime <msgno> - remove any waitting time for this message
3192 MSG NOREad <msgno> - mark message as unread
3193 MSG REad <msgno> - mark message as read
3194 MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins
3195 MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages
3198 You can look at the status of a message by using:-
3200 STAT/MSG <msgno>
3202 This will display more information on the message than DIR does.
3208 <bf>pc <call> <text></bf> Send text (eg PC Protocol) to <call>
3212 Send some arbitrary text to a locally connected callsign. No processing is done on
3213 the text. This command allows you to send PC Protocol to unstick things if problems
3214 arise (messages get stuck etc). eg:-
3216 pc gb7djk PC33^GB7TLH^GB7DJK^400^
3218 You can also use in the same way as a talk command to a connected user but
3219 without any processing, added of "from <blah> to <blah>" or whatever.
3221 pc G1TLH Try doing that properly!!!
3227 <bf>ping <node></bf> Check the link quality between nodes
3231 his command allows you to send a frame to another cluster node on
3232 the network and get a return frame. The time it takes to do this
3233 is a good indication of the quality of the link. The actual time
3234 it takes is output to the console in seconds.
3235 Any visible cluster node can be PINGed.
3242 <bf>rcmd <node call> <cmd></bf> Send a command to another DX cluster
3246 This command allows you to send nearly any command to another DX Cluster
3247 node that is connected to the system.
3249 Whether you get any output is dependant on a) whether the other system knows
3250 that the node callsign of this cluster is in fact a node b) whether the
3251 other system is allowing RCMDs from this node and c) whether you have
3252 permission to send this command at all.
3258 <bf>read</bf> Read the next unread personal message addressed to you<newline>
3259 <bf>read <msgno></bf> Read the specified message<newline>
3263 You can read any messages that are sent as 'non-personal' and also any
3264 message either sent by or sent to your callsign.
3267 <sect1>read (extended for sysops) (5)
3271 <bf>read <msgno></bf> Read a message on the system
3275 As a sysop you may read any message on the system
3277 <sect1>reject/announce
3281 <bf>reject/announce [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set a reject filter
3286 Create an 'reject this announce' line for a filter.
3288 An reject filter line means that if the announce matches this filter it is
3289 passed onto the user. See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this
3290 to understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.
3292 You can use any of the following things in this line:-
3295 info <string> eg: iota or qsl
3296 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
3298 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
3299 origin_itu <numbers>
3300 origin_zone <numbers>
3305 wx 1 filter WX announces
3306 dest <prefixes> eg: 6MUK,WDX (distros)
3312 rej/ann by_zone 14,15,16 and not by G,M,2
3315 You can use the tag 'all' to reject everything eg:
3321 but this probably for advanced users...
3323 <sect1>reject/announce (extended for sysops) (8)
3327 <bf>reject/announce <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf> Announce filter sysop version
3331 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
3332 default for nodes and users eg:-
3336 reject/ann input node_default by G,M,2
3337 reject/ann user_default by G,M,2
3340 <sect1>reject/spots (0)
3344 <bf>reject/spots [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set a reject filter
3349 Create a 'reject this spot' line for a filter.
3351 A reject filter line means that if the spot matches this filter it is
3352 dumped (not passed on). See HELP FILTERS for more info. Please read this
3353 to understand how filters work - it will save a lot of grief later on.
3355 You can use any of the following things in this line:-
3358 freq <range> eg: 0/30000 or hf or hf/cw or 6m,4m,2m
3359 on <range> same as 'freq'
3360 call <prefixes> eg: G,PA,HB9
3361 info <string> eg: iota or qsl
3363 call_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
3373 For frequencies, you can use any of the band names defined in
3374 SHOW/BANDS and you can use a subband name like: cw, rtty, data, ssb -
3375 thus: hf/ssb. You can also just have a simple range like: 0/30000 -
3376 this is more efficient than saying simply: on HF (but don't get
3377 too hung up about that)
3383 rej/spot 2 on vhf and not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
3386 You can use the tag 'all' to reject everything eg:
3392 but this probably for advanced users...
3394 <sect1>reject/spots (extended for sysops) (8)
3398 <bf>reject/spots <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf>
3399 Reject spot filter sysop version
3403 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
3404 default for nodes and users eg:-
3407 reject/spot db0sue-7 1 by_zone 14,15,16
3408 reject/spot node_default all
3409 set/hops node_default 10
3411 reject/spot user_default by G,M,2
3414 <sect1>reject/wcy (0)
3418 <bf>reject/wcy [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set a reject WCY filter
3422 It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can
3423 filter on the following fields:-
3426 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
3428 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
3429 origin_itu <numbers>
3430 origin_zone <numbers>
3437 There are no examples because WCY Broadcasts only come from one place and
3438 you either want them or not (see UNSET/WCY if you don't want them).
3440 This command is really provided for future use.
3442 See HELP FILTER for information.
3444 <sect1>reject/wcy (extended for sysops) (8)
3448 <bf>reject/wcy <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf>
3449 WCY reject filter sysop version
3453 This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
3454 default for nodes and users eg:-
3456 reject/wcy gb7djk all
3458 <sect1>reject/wwv (0)
3462 <bf>reject/wwv [0-9] <pattern></bf> Set a reject WWV filter
3466 It is unlikely that you will want to do this, but if you do then you can
3467 filter on the following fields:-
3470 by <prefixes> eg: G,M,2
3472 origin_dxcc <numbers> eg: 61,62 (from eg: sh/pre G)
3473 origin_itu <numbers>
3474 origin_zone <numbers>
3484 reject/wwv by_zone 14,15,16
3487 is probably the only useful thing to do (which will only show WWV broadcasts
3488 by stations in the US).
3490 See HELP FILTER for information.
3492 <sect1>reject/wwv (extended for sysops) (8)
3496 <bf>reject/wwv <call> [input] [0-9] <pattern></bf>
3497 WWV reject filter sysop version
3500 <P>This version allows a sysop to set a filter for a callsign as well as the
3501 default for nodes and users eg:-
3504 reject/wwv db0sue-7 1 by_zone 4
3505 reject/wwv node_default all
3507 reject/wwv user_default by W
3514 <bf>reply</bf> Reply (privately) to the last message that you have read<newline>
3515 <bf>reply <msgno></bf> Reply (privately) to the specified message<newline>
3516 <bf>reply B <msgno></bf> Reply as a Bulletin to the specified message<newline>
3517 <bf>reply NOPrivate <msgno></bf> Reply as a Bulletin to the specified
3519 <bf>reply RR <msgno></bf> Reply to the specified message with read
3524 You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
3525 "Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
3527 You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
3528 NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
3529 for further details)
3535 <bf>send <call> [<call> ...]</bf> Send a message to
3536 one or more callsigns<newline>
3537 <bf>send RR <call></bf> Send a message and ask for a read receipt<newline>
3538 <bf>send COPY <msgno> <call></bf> Send a copy of a message
3540 <bf>send PRIVATE <call></bf> Send a personal message<newline>
3541 <bf>send NOPRIVATE <call></bf> Send a message to all stations<newline>
3545 All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
3546 an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
3548 SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
3549 it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
3550 that callsign is connected to.
3552 You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
3554 You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
3557 SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
3560 which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
3561 receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
3563 SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
3564 SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
3566 <sect1>set/address (0)
3570 <bf>set/address <your_address></bf> Record your postal address
3574 Literally, record your address details on the cluster.
3576 <sect1>set/announce (0)
3580 <bf>set/announce</bf> Allow announce messages
3584 Allow announce messages to arrive at your terminal.
3586 <sect1>set/arcluster (5)
3590 <bf>set/arcluster <node_call> [<node_call> ...]</bf> Make
3591 the node_call an AR-Cluster type node
3595 Set the node_call as an AR-Cluster type node
3597 <sect1>set/baddx (8)
3601 <bf>set/baddx <call></bf> Stop words we do not wish to see in the callsign field
3602 of a dx spot being propagated
3606 Setting a word as 'baddx' will prevent spots with that word in the callsign
3607 field of a DX spot from going any further. They will not be displayed and they
3608 will not be sent onto other nodes.
3610 The word must be wriiten in full, no wild cards are allowed eg:-
3613 set/baddx FORSALE VIDEO FR0G
3616 To allow a word again, use the following command ...
3622 <sect1>set/badnode (6)
3626 <bf>set/badnode <node_call></bf> Stop spots from this node_call
3631 Setting a callsign as a 'badnode' will prevent spots from that node
3632 going any further. They will not be displayed and they will not be
3633 sent onto other nodes.
3635 The call can be a full or partial call (or a prefix), eg:-
3641 will stop anything from K1TTT (including any SSID's)
3647 will allow spots from him again.
3649 Use with extreme care. This command may well be superceded by FILTERing.
3651 <sect1>set/badspotter (8)
3655 <bf>set/badspotter <call></bf> Stop spots from this callsign being propagated
3659 Setting a callsign as a 'badspotter' will prevent spots from this callsign
3660 going any further. They will not be displayed and they will not be
3661 sent onto other nodes.
3663 The call must be written in full, no wild cards are allowed eg:-
3666 set/badspotter VE2STN
3669 will stop anything from VE2STN. If you want SSIDs as well then you must
3670 enter them specifically.
3673 unset/badspotter VE2STN
3676 will allow spots from him again.
3678 Use with extreme care. This command may well be superceded by FILTERing.
3684 <bf>set/beep</bf> Add beeps to terminal messages
3688 Add a beep to DX and other terminal messages.
3694 <bf>set/clx <node_call> [<node_call> ...]</bf> Make
3695 the node_call a CLX type node
3699 Set the node_call as a CLX type node
3701 <sect1>set/debug (9)
3705 <bf>set/debug <name></bf> Add a debug level to the debug set
3709 You can choose to log several different levels. The levels are
3717 You can show what levels you are logging with the <em>show/debug</em>
3720 You can remove a debug level with unset/debug <name>
3726 <bf>set/dx</bf>Allow DX messages to arrive at your terminal
3730 You can stop DX messages with the <em>unset/dx</em> command
3732 <sect1>set/dxgrid (0)
3736 <bf>set/dxgrid</bf>Allow grid squares on the end of DX messages
3740 Some logging programs do not like the additional information at
3741 the end of a DX spot. If this is the case, use the <em>unset/dxgrid</em>
3742 command to remove the grid squares.
3744 <sect1>set/dxnet (5)
3748 <bf>set/dxnet <node_call> [<node_call> ...]</bf> Make
3749 the node_call a DXNet type node
3753 Set the node_call as a DXNet type node
3759 <bf>set/echo</bf> Make the cluster echo your input
3763 If you are connected via a telnet session, different implimentations
3764 of telnet handle echo differently depending on whether you are
3765 connected via port 23 or some other port. You can use this command
3766 to change the setting appropriately.
3768 You can remove the echo with the <em>unset/echo</em> command
3770 The setting is stored in your user profile.
3772 YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE THIS COMMAND IF YOU ARE CONNECTED VIA AX25.
3778 <bf>set/here</bf> Set the here flag
3782 Let others on the cluster know you are here by only displaying your
3783 callsign. If you are away from your terminal you can use the <em>unset/here</em>
3784 command to let people know you are away. This simply puts brackets
3785 around your callsign to indicate you are not available.
3787 <sect1>set/homenode (0)
3791 <bf>set/homenode <node_call></bf> Set your home cluster
3795 Tell the cluster system where you normally connect to. Any Messages sent
3796 to you will normally find their way there should you not be connected.
3807 <bf>set/hops <node_call> ann|spots|wwv|wcy <n></bf>
3812 Set the hop count for a particular type of broadcast for a node.
3814 This command allows you to set up special hop counts for a node
3815 for currently: announce, spots, wwv and wcy broadcasts.
3819 set/hops gb7djk ann 10
3820 set/hops gb7mbc spots 20
3823 Set SHOW/HOPS for information on what is already set. This command
3824 creates a filter and works in conjunction with the filter system.
3826 <sect1>set/isolate (9)
3830 <bf>set/isolate <node call></bf> Isolate a node from the rest of the network
3834 Connect a node to your system in such a way that you are a full protocol
3835 member of its network and can see all spots on it, but nothing either leaks
3836 out from it nor goes back into from the rest of the nodes connected to you.
3838 You can potentially connect several nodes in this way.
3840 You can see which nodes are isolated with the show/isolate (1) command.
3842 You can remove the isolation with the command unset/isolate.
3844 <sect1>set/language (0)
3848 <bf>set/language <language></bf> Set the language you wish to use
3852 You can select the language that you want the cluster to use. Currently
3853 the languages available are <em>en</em> (English) and <em>nl</em> (Dutch).
3855 <sect1>set/location (0)
3859 <bf>set/location <lat and long></bf> Set your latitude and longitude
3863 You can set your latitude and longitude manually or alternatively use the
3864 <em>set/qra</em> command which will do the conversion for you.
3867 set/location 54 04 N 2 02 E
3871 <sect1>set/sys_location (9)
3875 <bf>set/sys_location <lat & long></bf> Set your cluster latitude and longitude
3879 In order to get accurate headings and such like you must tell the system
3880 what your latitude and longitude is. If you have not yet done a SET/QRA
3881 then this command will set your QRA locator for you. For example:-
3884 SET/LOCATION 52 22 N 0 57 E
3887 <sect1>set/logininfo (0)
3891 <bf>set/logininfo</bf> Show logins and logouts of nodes and users
3895 Show users and nodes when they log in and out of the local cluster. You
3896 can stop these messages by using the <em>unset/logininfo</em> command.
3899 <sect1>set/lockout (9)
3903 <bf>set/lockout <call></bf> Stop a callsign connecting to the cluster
3907 You can show who is locked out with the <em>show/lockout</em> command.
3908 To allow the user to connect again, use the <em>unset/lockout</em> command.
3914 <bf>set/name <your_name></bf> Set your name
3918 Tell the cluster what your name is, eg:-
3928 <bf>set/node <call> [<call> ...]</bf> Make the callsign an AK1A cluster
3932 Tell the system that the call(s) are to be treated as AK1A cluster and
3933 fed PC Protocol rather normal user commands.
3935 From version 1.41 you can also set the following types of cluster
3944 To see what your nodes are set to, use the <em>show/nodes</em> command.
3946 <sect1>set/obscount (9)
3950 <bf>set/obscount <count> <node call></bf> Set the 'pump-up'
3951 obsolescence counter
3955 From version 1.35 onwards neighbouring nodes are pinged at regular intervals (see
3956 SET/PINGINTERVAL), usually 300 seconds or 5 minutes. There is a 'pump-up'
3957 counter which is decremented on every outgoing ping and then reset to
3958 the 'obscount' value on every incoming ping. The default value of this
3961 What this means is that a neighbouring node will be pinged twice at
3962 (default) 300 second intervals and if no reply has been heard just before
3963 what would be the third attempt, that node is disconnected.
3965 If a ping is heard then the obscount is reset to the full value. Using
3966 default values, if a node has not responded to a ping within 15 minutes,
3973 <bf>set/page <n></bf> Set the number of lines per page
3977 Tell the system how many lines you wish on a page when the number of lines
3978 of output from a command is more than this. The default is 20. Setting it
3979 explicitly to 0 will disable paging.
3986 The setting is stored in your user profile.
3989 <sect1>set/password (9)
3993 <bf>set/password <callsign> <string></bf> Set a users password
3997 The password for a user can only be set by a full sysop. The string
3998 can contain any characters but any spaces are removed (you can type in
3999 spaces - but they won't appear in the password). You can see the
4000 result with STAT/USER. The password is the usual 30 character baycom
4003 <sect1>set/pinginterval (9)
4007 <bf>set/pinginterval <time> <node call></bf> Set the ping time
4008 to neighbouring nodes
4012 As from version 1.35 all neighbouring nodes are pinged at regular intervals
4013 in order to determine the rolling quality of the link and, in future, to
4014 affect routing decisions. The default interval is 300 secs or 5 minutes.
4016 You can use this command to set a different interval. Please don't.
4018 But if you do the value you enter is treated as minutes up 60 and seconds
4019 for numbers greater than that.
4021 This is used also to help determine when a link is down at the far end
4022 (as certain cluster software doesn't always notice), see SET/OBSCOUNT
4023 for more information.
4025 <sect1>set/privilege (9)
4029 <bf>set/privilege <n> <call> [<call> ...]</bf> Set the
4030 privilege level on a call
4034 Set the privilege level on a callsign. The privilege levels that pertain
4035 to commands are as default:-
4039 1 - allow remote nodes normal user RCMDs
4040 5 - various privileged commands (including shutdown, but not disc-
4041 connect), the normal level for another node.
4042 8 - more privileged commands (including disconnect)
4043 9 - local sysop privilege. DO NOT SET ANY REMOTE USER OR NODE TO THIS
4047 If you are a sysop and you come in as a normal user on a remote connection
4048 your privilege will automatically be set to 0.
4050 <sect1>set/spider (5)
4054 <bf>set/spider <node_call> [<node_call> ...]</bf> Make
4055 the node_call a DXSpider type node
4059 Set the node_call as a DXSpider type node
4061 <sect1>set/sys_qra (9)
4065 <bf>set/sys_qra <locator></bf> Set your cluster QRA locator
4072 <bf>set/qra <locator></bf> Set your QRA locator
4076 Tell the system what your QRA (or Maidenhead) locator is. If you have not
4077 done a SET/LOCATION then your latitude and longitude will be set roughly
4078 correctly (assuming your locator is correct ;-). For example:-
4088 <bf>set/qth <your QTH></bf> Set your QTH
4092 Tell the system where your are. For example:-
4095 set/qth East Dereham, Norfolk
4102 <bf>set/talk</bf> Allow talk messages to be seen at your console
4106 Allow talk messages to arrive at your console. You can switch off
4107 talks with the <em>unset/talk</em> command.
4113 <bf>set/wcy</bf> Allow WCY messages to be seen at your console
4117 Allow WCY information to be seen at your console. You can switch off
4118 WCY messages with the <em>unset/wcy</em> command.
4124 <bf>set/wwv</bf> Allow WWV messages to be seen at your console
4128 Allow WWV information to be seen at your console. You can switch off
4129 WWV messages with the <em>unset/wwv</em> command.
4135 <bf>set/wx</bf> Allow WX messages to be seen at your console
4139 Allow WX information to be seen at your console. You can switch off
4140 WX messages with the <em>unset/wx</em> command.
4142 <sect1>show/baddx (1)
4146 <bf>show/baddx</bf>Show all the bad dx calls in the system
4150 Display all the bad dx callsigns in the system, see SET/BADDX
4151 for more information.
4153 <sect1>show/badnode (6)
4157 <bf>show/badnode</bf> Show all the bad nodes in the system
4161 Display all the bad node callsigns in the system, see SET/BADNODE
4162 for more information.
4164 <sect1>show/badspotter (1)
4168 <bf>show/badspotter</bf> Show all the bad spotters in the system
4172 Display all the bad spotter's callsigns in the system, see SET/BADSPOTTER
4173 for more information.
4175 <sect1>show/date (0)
4179 <bf>show/date [<prefix>|<callsign>]</bf> Show
4184 This is very nearly the same as SHOW/TIME, the only difference the format
4185 of the date string if no arguments are given.
4187 If no prefixes or callsigns are given then this command returns the local
4188 time and UTC as the computer has it right now. If you give some prefixes
4189 then it will show UTC and UTC + the local offset (not including DST) at
4190 the prefixes or callsigns that you specify.
4192 <sect1>show/debug (9)
4196 <bf>show/debug</bf> Show what levels of debug you are logging
4200 The levels can be set with <em>set/debug</em>
4206 <bf>show/dx [options]</bf> interrogate the spot database
4210 If you just type SHOW/DX you will get the last so many spots
4211 (sysop configurable, but usually 10).
4213 In addition you can add any number of these options in very nearly
4214 any order to the basic SHOW/DX command, they are:-
4217 on <band> - eg 160m 20m 2m 23cm 6mm
4218 on <region> - eg hf vhf uhf shf (see SHOW/BANDS)
4220 <number> - the number of spots you want
4221 <from>-<to> - <from> spot no <to> spot no in
4224 <prefix> - for a spotted callsign beginning with <prefix>
4225 *<suffix> - for a spotted callsign ending in <suffix>
4226 *<string>* - for a spotted callsign containing <string>
4228 day <number> - starting <number> days ago
4229 day <from>-<to> - <from> days <to> days ago
4231 info <text> - any spots containing <text> in the info or remarks
4233 by <call> - any spots spotted by <call> (spotter <call>
4236 qsl - this automatically looks for any qsl info on the call
4237 held in the spot database.
4239 iota [<iota>] - If the iota island number is missing it will
4240 look for the string iota and anything which looks like
4241 an iota island number. If you specify then it will look
4244 qra [<locator>] - this will look for the specific locator if
4245 you specify one or else anything that looks like a locator.
4252 SH/DX on 20m info iota
4253 SH/DX 9a on vhf day 30
4260 <sect1>show/dxcc (0)
4264 <bf>show/dxcc <prefix></bf> Interrogate the spot database by country
4268 This command takes the <prefix> (which can be a full or partial
4269 callsign if desired), looks up which internal country number it is
4270 and then displays all the spots as per SH/DX for that country.
4272 The options for SHOW/DX also apply to this command.
4277 SH/DXCC W on 20m info iota
4280 <sect1>show/files (0)
4284 <bf>show/files [<filearea> [<string>]]</bf> List
4285 the contents of a filearea
4289 SHOW/FILES on its own will show you a list of the various fileareas
4290 available on the system. To see the contents of a particular file
4294 SH/FILES <filearea>
4297 where <filearea> is the name of the filearea you want to see the
4300 You can also use shell globbing characters like '*' and '?' in a
4301 string to see a selection of files in a filearea eg:-
4304 SH/FILES bulletins arld*
4307 See also TYPE - to see the contents of a file.
4309 <sect1>show/filter (0)
4313 <bf>show/filter</bf> Show the filters you have set
4317 Show the contents of all the filters that are set by you. This command
4318 displays all the filters set - for all the various categories.
4320 <sect1>show/filter (extended for sysops) (5)
4324 <bf>show/filter <callsign></bf> Show the filters set by <callsign>
4328 A sysop can look at any filters that have been set.
4330 <sect1>show/hops (8)
4334 <bf>show/hops <node_call> [ann|spots|wcy|wwv|]</bf> Show the hop
4339 This command shows the hop counts set up for a node. You can specify
4340 which category you want to see. If you leave the category out then
4341 all the categories will be listed.
4343 <sect1>show/isolate (1)
4347 <bf>show/isolate</bf> Show a list of isolated nodes
4351 Show which nodes are currently set to be isolated.
4353 <sect1>show/lockout (9)
4357 <bf>show/lockout</bf> Show a list of excluded callsigns
4361 Show a list of callsigns that have been excluded (locked out) of the
4362 cluster locally with the <em>set/lockout</em> command
4368 <bf>show/log [<callsign>]</bf> Show excerpts from the system log
4372 This command outputs a short section of the system log. On its own
4373 it will output a general logfile. With the optional callsign it will
4374 show output from the log associated with that callsign.
4376 <sect1>show/moon (0)
4380 <bf>show/moon [<prefix>|<callsign>]</bf> Show moon
4385 Show the Moon rise and set times for a (list of) prefixes or callsigns,
4386 together with the azimuth and elevation of the sun currently at those
4389 If you don't specify any prefixes or callsigns, it will show the times for
4390 your QTH (assuming you have set it with either SET/LOCATION or SET/QRA),
4391 together with the current azimuth and elevation.
4393 In addition, it will show the gain or loss dB relative to the nominal
4394 distance of 385,000Km due to the ellipsoidal nature of the orbit.
4396 If all else fails it will show the Moonrise and set times for the node
4397 that you are connected to.
4410 <bf>show/muf <prefix> [<hours>][long]</bf> Show
4411 the likely propagation to <prefix>
4415 This command allow you to estimate the likelihood of you contacting
4416 a station with the prefix you have specified. The output assumes a modest
4417 power of 20dBW and receiver sensitivity of -123dBm (about 0.15muV/10dB SINAD)
4419 The result predicts the most likely operating frequencies and signal
4420 levels for high frequency (shortwave) radio propagation paths on
4421 specified days of the year and hours of the day. It is most useful for
4422 paths between 250 km and 6000 km, but can be used with reduced accuracy
4423 for paths shorter or longer than this.
4425 The command uses a routine MINIMUF 3.5 developed by the U.S. Navy and
4426 used to predict the MUF given the predicted flux, day of the year,
4427 hour of the day and geographic coordinates of the transmitter and
4428 receiver. This routine is reasonably accurate for the purposes here,
4429 with a claimed RMS error of 3.8 MHz, but much smaller and less complex
4430 than the programs used by major shortwave broadcasting organizations,
4431 such as the Voice of America.
4433 The command will display some header information detailing its
4434 assumptions, together with the locations, latitude and longitudes and
4435 bearings. It will then show UTC (UT), local time at the other end
4436 (LT), calculate the MUFs, Sun zenith angle at the midpoint of the path
4437 (Zen) and the likely signal strengths. Then for each frequency for which
4438 the system thinks there is a likelihood of a circuit it prints a value.
4440 The value is currently a likely S meter reading based on the conventional
4441 6dB / S point scale. If the value has a '+' appended it means that it is
4442 1/2 an S point stronger. If the value is preceeded by an 'm' it means that
4443 there is likely to be much fading and by an 's' that the signal is likely
4446 By default SHOW/MUF will show the next two hours worth of data. You
4447 can specify anything up to 24 hours worth of data by appending the no of
4448 hours required after the prefix. For example:-
4457 RxSens: -123 dBM SFI: 159 R: 193 Month: 10 Day: 21
4458 Power : 20 dBW Distance: 6283 km Delay: 22.4 ms
4459 Location Lat / Long Azim
4460 East Dereham, Norfolk 52 41 N 0 57 E 47
4461 United-States-W 43 0 N 87 54 W 299
4462 UT LT MUF Zen 1.8 3.5 7.0 10.1 14.0 18.1 21.0 24.9 28.0 50.0
4463 18 23 11.5 -35 mS0+ mS2 S3
4464 19 0 11.2 -41 mS0+ mS2 S3
4467 indicating that you will have weak, fading circuits on top band and
4468 80m but usable signals on 40m (about S3).
4476 will get you the above display, but with the next 24 hours worth of
4484 Gives you an estimate of the long path propagation characterics. It
4485 should be noted that the figures will probably not be very useful, nor
4486 terrible accurate, but it is included for completeness.
4488 <sect1>show/node (1)
4492 <bf>show/node [<node_call> ...]</bf> Show the type and version
4497 Show the type and version (if connected) of the nodes specified on the
4498 command line. If no callsigns are specified then a sorted list of all
4499 the non-user callsigns known to the system will be displayed.
4501 <sect1>show/prefix (0)
4505 <bf>show/prefix <callsign></bf> Interrogate the prefix database
4509 This command takes the <callsign> (which can be a full or partial
4510 callsign or a prefix), looks up which internal country number
4511 it is and then displays all the relevant prefixes for that country
4512 together with the internal country no, the CQ and ITU regions.
4517 <sect1>show/program (5)
4521 <bf>show/program</bf> Show the locations of all the included program modules
4525 Show the name and location where every program module was load from. This
4526 is useful for checking where you think you have loaded a .pm file from.
4532 <bf>show/qra <locator> [<locator>]</bf> Show the distance
4533 between locators<newline>
4534 <bf>show/qra <lat> <long></bf> Convert latitude and longitude to
4539 This is a multipurpose command that allows you either to calculate the
4540 distance and bearing between two locators or (if only one locator is
4541 given on the command line) the distance and beraing from your station
4542 to the locator. For example:-
4549 The first example will show the distance and bearing to the locator from
4550 yourself, the second example will calculate the distance and bearing from
4551 the first locator to the second. You can use 4 or 6 character locators.
4553 It is also possible to convert a latitude and longitude to a locator by
4554 using this command with a latitude and longitude as an argument, for
4558 SH/QRA 52 41 N 0 58 E
4565 <bf>show/qrz <callsign></bf> Show any callbook details on a callsign
4569 This command queries the QRZ callbook server on the internet
4570 and returns any information available for that callsign. This service
4571 is provided for users of this software by http://www.qrz.com
4573 <sect1>show/route (0)
4577 <bf>show/route <callsign></bf> Show the route to <callsign>
4581 This command allows you to see to which node the callsigns specified are
4582 connected. It is a sort of inverse sh/config.
4588 <sect1>show/satellite (0)
4592 <bf>show/satellite <name> [<hours> <interval>]</bf>
4593 Show satellite tracking data
4597 Show the tracking data from your location to the satellite of your choice
4598 from now on for the next few hours.
4600 If you use this command without a satellite name it will display a list
4601 of all the satellites known currently to the system.
4603 If you give a name then you can obtain tracking data of all the passes
4604 that start and finish 5 degrees below the horizon. As default it will
4605 give information for the next three hours for every five minute period.
4607 You can alter the number of hours and the step size, within certain
4610 Each pass in a period is separated with a row of '-----' characters
4616 SH/SAT FENGYUN1 12 2
4623 <bf>show/sun [<prefix>|<callsign>]</bf> Show
4624 sun rise and set times
4628 Show the sun rise and set times for a (list of) prefixes or callsigns,
4629 together with the azimuth and elevation of the sun currently at those
4632 If you don't specify any prefixes or callsigns, it will show the times for
4633 your QTH (assuming you have set it with either SET/LOCATION or SET/QRA),
4634 together with the current azimuth and elevation.
4636 If all else fails it will show the sunrise and set times for the node
4637 that you are connected to.
4643 SH/SUN G1TLH K9CW ZS
4646 <sect1>show/time (0)
4650 <bf>show/time [<prefix>|<callsign>]</bf> Show
4655 If no prefixes or callsigns are given then this command returns the local
4656 time and UTC as the computer has it right now. If you give some prefixes
4657 then it will show UTC and UTC + the local offset (not including DST) at
4658 the prefixes or callsigns that you specify.
4664 <bf>show/wcy</bf> Show the last 10 WCY broadcasts<newline>
4665 <bf>show/wcy <n></bf> Show the last <n> WCY broadcasts
4669 Display the most recent WCY information that has been received by the system
4675 <bf>show/wwv</bf> Show the last 10 WWV broadcasts<newline>
4676 <bf>show/wwv <n></bf> Show the last <n> WWV broadcasts
4680 Display the most recent WWV information that has been received by the system
4687 <bf>shutdown</bf> Shutdown the cluster
4691 Shutdown the cluster and disconnect all the users. If you have Spider
4692 set to respawn in /etc/inittab it will of course restart.
4698 <bf>spoof <callsign> <command></bf> Run commands as another user
4702 This is a very simple yet powerful command for the sysop. It allows you to
4703 issue commands as if you were a different user. This is very useful for the
4704 kind of things that users seem to always get wrong.. like home_node for
4711 <bf>stat/db <dbname></bf> Show the status of a database
4715 Show the internal status of a database descriptor.
4717 Depending on your privilege level you will see more or less information.
4718 This command is unlikely to be of much use to anyone other than a sysop.
4720 <sect1>stat/channel (5)
4724 <bf>stat/channel <callsign></bf> Show the status of a channel on the cluster
4728 Show the internal status of the channel object either for the channel that
4729 you are on or else for the callsign that you asked for.
4731 Only the fields that are defined (in perl term) will be displayed.
4737 <bf>stat/msg <msgno></bf> Show the status of a message
4741 This command shows the internal status of a message and includes information
4742 such as to whom it has been forwarded, its size, origin etc etc.
4744 <sect1>stat/user (5)
4748 <bf>stat/user <callsign></bf> Show the full status of a user
4752 Shows the full contents of a user record including all the secret flags
4755 Only the fields that are defined (in perl term) will be displayed.
4761 <bf>sysop</bf> Regain your privileges if you login remotely
4765 The system automatically reduces your privilege level to that of a
4766 normal user if you login in remotely. This command allows you to
4767 regain your normal privilege level. It uses the normal system: five
4768 numbers are returned that are indexes into the character array that is
4769 your assigned password (see SET/PASSWORD). The indexes start from
4772 You are expected to return a string which contains the characters
4773 required in the correct order. You may intersperse those characters
4774 with others to obscure your reply for any watchers. For example (and
4775 these values are for explanation :-):
4778 password = 012345678901234567890123456789
4786 aa2bbbb0ccc5ddd7xxx3n
4791 They will all match. If there is no password you will still be offered
4792 numbers but nothing will happen when you input a string. Any match is
4799 <bf>talk <callsign></bf> Enter talk mode with <callsign><newline>
4800 <bf>talk <callsign> <text></bf> Send a text message to <callsign><newline>
4801 <bf>talk <callsign> > <node_call> [<text>]</bf>
4802 Send a text message to <callsign> via <node_call>
4806 Send a short message to any other station that is visible on the cluster
4807 system. You can send it to anyone you can see with a SHOW/CONFIGURATION
4808 command, they don't have to be connected locally.
4810 The second form of TALK is used when other cluster nodes are connected
4811 with restricted information. This usually means that they don't send
4812 the user information usually associated with logging on and off the cluster.
4814 If you know that G3JNB is likely to be present on GB7TLH, but you can only
4815 see GB7TLH in the SH/C list but with no users, then you would use the
4816 second form of the talk message.
4818 If you want to have a ragchew with someone you can leave the text message
4819 out and the system will go into 'Talk' mode. What this means is that a
4820 short message is sent to the recipient telling them that you are in a 'Talking'
4821 frame of mind and then you just type - everything you send will go to the
4822 station that you asked for.
4824 All the usual announcements, spots and so on will still come out on your
4827 If you want to do something (such as send a spot) you precede the normal
4828 command with a '/' character, eg:-
4831 /DX 14001 G1TLH What's a B class licensee doing on 20m CW?
4835 To leave talk mode type:
4845 <bf>type <filearea>/<name></bf> Look at a file in one of the fileareas
4849 Type out the contents of a file in a filearea. So, for example, in
4850 filearea 'bulletins' you want to look at file 'arld051' you would
4854 TYPE bulletins/arld051
4857 See also SHOW/FILES to see what fileareas are available and a
4864 <bf>who</bf> Show who is physically connected locally
4868 This is a quick listing that shows which callsigns are connected and
4869 what sort of connection they have
4875 <bf>wx <text></bf> Send a weather message to local users<newline>
4876 <bf>wx full <text> </bf> Send a weather message to all cluster users
4880 Weather messages can sometimes be useful if you are experiencing an extreme
4881 that may indicate enhanced conditions
4883 <sect1>wx (enhanced for sysops) (5)
4887 <bf>wx sysop <text></bf> Send a weather message to other clusters only
4891 Send a weather message only to other cluster nodes and not to general users.