2 # please put your help in in alphabetical order
4 # a string search is done in the command field (case is ignored)
5 # and all commands matching the asked for command are printed out
7 # the order of the fields in each header is
8 # privilege, command, Description
9 # if the command ends in a - then that line isn't printed, but any
10 # subsequent lines are
12 # Comment lines are indented before printing
14 === 0^ANNOUNCE <text>^Send an announcement to LOCAL users only
16 === 0^ANNOUNCE FULL <text>^Send an announcement cluster wide
17 This will send your announcement cluster wide
19 === 5^ANNOUNCE SYSOP <text>^Send an announcement to Sysops only
22 <text> is the text of the announcement you wish to broadcast
24 === 0^APROPOS <string>^Search help database for <string>
25 Search the help database for <string> (it isn't case sensitive), and print
26 the names of all the commands that may be relevant.
28 === 0^BYE^Exit from the cluster
29 This will disconnect you from the cluster
31 === 5^CONNECT <callsign>^Start a connection to another DX Cluster
32 Start a connection process that will culminate in a new connection to the
33 DX cluster <callsign>. This process creates a new 'client' process which will
34 use the script in /spider/connect/<callsign> to effect the 'chat' exchange
35 necessary to traverse the network(s) to logon to the cluster <callsign>.
37 === 9^DEBUG^Set the cluster program into debug mode
38 Executing this command will only have an effect if you are running the cluster
43 It will interrupt the cluster just after the debug command has finished.
44 === 0^DIRECTORY^List messages
45 === 0^DIRECTORY ALL^List all messages
46 === 0^DIRECTORY OWN^List your own messages
47 === 0^DIRECTORY NEW^List your own new messages
48 List the messages in the messages directory.
50 If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
53 If there is a - after the message number then this indicates that the
54 message has been read.
57 Sysops can see all users' messages.
59 === 8^DISCONNECT <call> [<call> ...]^Disconnect a user or cluster
60 Disconnect any <call> connected locally
62 === 0^DX <freq> <callsign> <remarks>^Send a DX spot throughout the cluster
63 <freq> is compared against the available bands set up in the cluster.
64 see show/bands for more information.
66 === 1^FORWARD/OPERNAME <call>^Send out information on this <call> to all clusters
67 This command sends out any information held in the user file which can
68 be broadcast in PC41 protocol packets. This information is Name, QTH, Location
69 and Homenode. PC41s are only sent for the information that is available.
71 === 0^HELP^The HELP Command
72 HELP is available for a number of commands. The syntax is:-
76 Where <cmd> is the name of the command you want help on.
78 All commands can be abbreviated, so SHOW/DX can be abbreviated
79 to SH/DX, ANNOUNCE can be shortened to AN and so on.
81 Look at the APROPOS <string> command which will search the help database
82 for the <string> you specify and give you a list of likely commands
85 === 0^KILL <msgno> [<msgno..]^Delete a message from the local system
86 Delete a message from the local system. You will only be able to delete messages
87 that you have originated or been sent (unless you are the sysop).
89 === 5^KILL FULL <msgno> [<msgno..]^Delete a message from the whole cluster
90 Delete a message (usually a 'bulletin') from the whole cluster system.
92 This uses the subject field, so any messages that have exactly the same subject
93 will be deleted. Beware!
95 === 9^LOAD/ALIASES^Reload the command alias table
96 Reload the /spider/cmd/Aliases file after you have editted it. You will need to
97 do this if you change this file whilst the cluster is running in order for the
98 changes to take effect.
100 === 9^LOAD/BANDS^Reload the band limits table
101 Reload the /spider/data/bands.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst
102 the cluster is running.
104 === 9^LOAD/CMD_CACHE^Reload the automatic command cache
105 Normally, if you change a command file in the cmd or local_cmd tree it will
106 automatially be picked up by the cluster program. Sometimes it can get confused
107 if you are doing a lot of moving commands about or delete a command in the
108 local_cmd tree and want to use the normal one again. Execute this command to
109 reset everything back to the state it was just after a cluster restart.
111 === 9^LOAD/MESSAGES^Reload the system messages file
112 If you change the /spider/perl/Messages file (usually whilst fiddling/writing new
113 commands) you can have them take effect during a cluster session by executing this
114 command. You need to do this if get something like :-
116 unknown message 'xxxx' in lang 'en'
118 === 9^LOAD/PREFIXES^Reload the prefix table
119 Reload the /spider/data/prefix_data.pl file if you have changed it manually whilst
120 the cluster is running.
122 === 8^PC <call> <text>^Send text (eg PC Protocol) to <call>
123 Send some arbitrary text to a locally connected callsign. No processing is done on
124 the text. This command allows you to send PC Protocol to unstick things if problems
125 arise (messages get stuck etc). eg:-
126 pc gb7djk PC33^GB7TLH^GB7DJK^400^
128 pc G1TLH Try doing that properly!!!
130 === 1^PING <node>^Send a ping command to another cluster
131 This command is used to estimate the quality of the link to another cluster.
132 The time returned is the length of time taken for a PC51 to go to another
133 cluster and be returned.
135 === 0^KILL <msgno> [<msgno> ...]^Remove or erase a message from the system
136 You can get rid of any message to or originating from your callsign using
137 this command. You can remove more than one message at a time.
140 As a sysop you can kill any message on the system.
142 === 5^MERGE <node> [<no spots>/<no wwv>]^Ask for the latest spots and WWV
143 MERGE allows you to bring your spot and wwv database up to date. By default
144 it will request the last 10 spots and 5 WWVs from the node you select. The
145 node must be connected locally.
147 You can request any number of spots or wwv and although they will be appended
148 to your databases they will not duplicate any that have recently been added
149 (the last 2 days for spots and last month for WWV data).
151 === 8^PC <call> <text>^Send arbitrary text to a connected callsign
152 Send any text you like to the callsign requested. This is used mainly to send
153 PC protocol to connected nodes either for testing or to unstick things.
155 You can also use in the same way as a talk command to a connected user but
156 without any processing, added of "from <blah> to <blah" or whatever.
158 === 1^PING <node call>^Find out the delays an a circuit to another node
159 This command will enable sysops to determine the speed of an inter-cluster
162 Any visible cluster node can be PINGed.
164 === 1^RCMD <node call> <cmd>^Send a command to another DX Cluster
165 This command allows you to send nearly any command to another DX Cluster
166 node that is connected to the system.
168 Whether you get any output is dependant on a) whether the other system knows
169 that the node callsign of this cluster is in fact a node b) whether the
170 other system is allowing RCMDs from this node and c) whether you have
171 permission to send this command at all.
173 === 0^READ^Read the next unread personal message addressed to you
174 === 0^READ <msgno>^Read the specified message
175 You can read any messages that are sent as 'non-personal' and also any
176 message either sent by or sent to your callsign.
179 As a sysop you may read any message on the system
181 === 0^REPLY^Reply to the last message that you have read
182 === 0^REPLY <msgno>^Reply to the specified message
183 === 0^REPLY PRIVATE <msgno>^Reply privately to the specified message
184 === 0^REPLY RR <msgno>^Reply to the specified message with read receipt
185 You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
186 "Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
188 You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
189 NOPRIVATE that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
192 === 0^SEND <call> [<call> ...]^Send a message to one or more callsigns
193 === 0^SEND RR <call>^Send a message and ask for a read receipt
194 === 0^SEND COPY <msgno> <call>^Send a copy of a message to someone
195 === 0^SEND PRIVATE <call>^Send a personal message
196 === 0^SEND NOPRIVATE <call>^Send a message to all stations
197 All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
198 an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
200 SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
201 it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
202 that callsign is connected to.
204 You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
206 You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
208 SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
210 which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
211 receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
213 SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
214 SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
216 === 0^SET/ADDRESS <your address>^Record your postal address
218 === 0^SET/ANNOUNCE^Allow announce messages to come out on your terminal
219 === 0^UNSET/ANNOUNCE^Stop announce messages coming out on your terminal
221 === 0^SET/BEEP^Add a beep to DX and other messages on your terminal
222 === 0^UNSET/BEEP^Stop beeps for DX and other messages on your terminal
224 === 9^SET/DEBUG <name>^Add a debug level to the debug set
225 === 9^UNSET/DEBUG <name>^Remove a debug level from the debug set
227 === 0^SET/DX^Allow DX messages to come out on your terminal
228 === 0^UNSET/DX^Stop DX messages coming out on your terminal
230 === 0^SET/HERE^Tell the system you are present at your terminal
231 === 0^UNSET/HERE^Tell the system you are absent from your terminal
233 === 0^SET/HOMENODE <node> ^Set your normal cluster callsign
234 Tell the cluster system where you normally connect to. Any Messages sent
235 to you will normally find their way there should you not be connected.
239 === 9^SET/ISOLATE^Isolate a node from the rest of the network
240 Connect a node to your system in such a way that you are a full protocol
241 member of its network and can see all spots on it, but nothing either leaks
242 out from it nor goes back into from the rest of the nodes connected to you.
244 You can potentially connect several nodes in this way.
246 === 9^UNSET/ISOLATE^Stop Isolation of a node from the rest of the network
247 Remove isolation from a node - SET/ISOLATE
249 === 0^SET/LANGUAGE <lang>^Set the language you want to use
250 You can select the language that you want the cluster to use. Currently
251 the languages available are en (english) and nl (dutch).
253 === 0^SET/LOCATION <lat & long>^Set your latitude and longitude
254 === 9^SET/SYS_LOCATION <lat & long>^Set your cluster latitude and longitude
255 In order to get accurate headings and such like you must tell the system
256 what your latitude and longitude is. If you have not yet done a SET/QRA
257 then this command will set your QRA locator for you. For example:-
258 SET/LOCATION 52 22 N 0 57 E
260 === 9^SET/LOCKOUT <call>^Stop a callsign connecting to the cluster
261 === 9^UNSET/LOCKOUT <call>^Allow a callsign to connect to the cluster
263 === 0^SET/NAME <your name>^Set your name
264 Tell the system what your name is eg:-
267 === 9^SET/NODE <call> [<call>..]^Make the callsign an AK1A cluster
268 Tell the system that the call(s) are to be treated as AK1A cluster and
269 fed PC Protocol rather normal user commands.
271 === 0^SET/PAGE <lines per page>^Set the lines per page
272 Tell the system how many lines you wish on a page when the number of line
273 of output from a command is more than this. The default is 20. Setting it
274 explicitly to 0 will disable paging.
278 === 9^SET/PRIVILEGE <n> <call> [<call..]^Set privilege level on a call
279 Set the privilege level on a callsign. The privilege levels that pertain
280 to commands are as default:-
282 1 - allow remote nodes normal user RCMDs
283 5 - various privileged commands (including shutdown, but not disc-
284 connect), the normal level for another node.
285 8 - more privileged commands (including disconnect)
286 9 - local sysop privilege. DO NOT SET ANY REMOTE USER OR NODE TO THIS
288 If you are a sysop and you come in as a normal user on a remote connection
289 your privilege will automatically be set to 0.
291 === 9^SET/PASSWORD <callsign> <string>^Set a users password
292 The password for a user can only be set by a full sysop. The string
293 can contain any characters but any spaces are removed (you can type in
294 spaces - but they won't appear in the password). You can see the
295 result with STAT/USER.
297 === 0^SET/QRA <locator>^Set your QRA locator
298 === 9^SET/SYS_QRA <locator>^Set your cluster QRA locator
299 Tell the system what your QRA (or Maidenhead) locator is. If you have not
300 done a SET/LOCATION then your latitude and longitude will be set roughly
301 correctly (assuming your locator is correct ;-). For example:-
304 === 0^SET/QTH <your qth>^Set your QTH
305 Tell the system where you are. For example:-
306 SET/QTH East Dereham, Norfolk
308 === 0^SET/TALK^Allow TALK messages to come out on your terminal
309 === 0^UNSET/TALK^Stop TALK messages coming out on your terminal
311 === 0^SET/WWV^Allow WWV messages to come out on your terminal
312 === 0^UNSET/WWV^Stop WWV messages coming out on your terminal
314 === 0^SET/WX^Allow WX messages to come out on your terminal
315 === 0^UNSET/WX^Stop WX messages coming out on your terminal
317 === 0^SHOW/DX^Interrogate the spot database
318 If you just type SHOW/DX you will get the last so many spots
319 (sysop configurable, but usually 10).
321 In addition you can add any number of these commands in very nearly
322 any order to the basic SHOW/DX command, they are:-
324 on <band> - eg 160m 20m 2m 23cm 6mm
325 on <region> - eg hf vhf uhf shf (see SHOW/BANDS)
327 <number> - the number of spots you want
328 <from>-<to> - <from> spot no <to> spot no in the selected list
330 <prefix> - for a spotted callsign beginning with <prefix>
331 *<suffix> - for a spotted callsign ending in <suffix>
332 *<string>* - for a spotted callsign containing <string>
334 day <number> - starting <number> days ago
335 day <from>-<to> - <from> days <to> days ago
337 info <text> - any spots containing <text> in the info or remarks
339 spotter <call> - any spots spotted by <call>
344 SH/DX on 20m info iota
345 SH/DX 9a on vhf day 30
347 === 0^SHOW/DXCC <prefix>^Interrogate the spot database by country
348 This command takes the <prefix> (which can be a full or partial
349 callsign if desired), looks up which internal country number it is
350 and then displays all the spots as per SH/DX for that country.
352 The options for SHOW/DX also apply to this command.
356 SH/DXCC W on 20m info iota
358 === 0^SHOW/PREFIX <callsign>^Interrogate the prefix database
359 This command takes the <callsign> (which can be a full or partial
360 callsign or a prefix), looks up which internal country number
361 it is and then displays all the relevant prefixes for that country
362 together with the internal country no, the CQ and ITU regions.
366 === 0^SHOW/PROGRAM^Show the locations of all the included program modules
367 Show the name and location where every program module was load from. This
368 is useful for checking where you think you have loaded a .pm file from.
370 === 0^SHOW/WWV^Show last 10 WWV broadcasts
371 === 0^SHOW/WWV <n>^Show last <n> WWV broadcasts
372 Display the most recent WWV information that has been received by the system
374 === 5^SHUTDOWN^Shutdown the cluster
375 Shutdown the cluster and disconnect all the users
377 === 5^STAT/CHANNEL [<callsign>]^Show the status of a channel on the cluster
378 Show the internal status of the channel object either for the channel that
379 you are on or else for the callsign that you asked for.
381 Only the fields that are defined (in perl term) will be displayed.
383 === 5^STAT/USER [<callsign>]^Show the full status of a user
384 Shows the full contents of a user record including all the secret flags
387 Only the fields that are defined (in perl term) will be displayed.
389 === 0^SYSOP^Regain your privileges if you login remotely
390 The system automatically reduces your privilege level to that of a
391 normal user if you login in remotely. This command allows you to
392 regain your normal privilege level. It uses the normal system: five
393 numbers are returned that are indexes into the character array that is
394 your assigned password (see SET/PASSWORD). The indexes start from
397 You are expected to return a string which contains the characters
398 required in the correct order. You may intersperse those characters
399 with others to obscure your reply for any watchers. For example (and
400 these values are for explanation :-):
402 password = 012345678901234567890123456789
406 aa2bbbb0ccc5ddd7xxx3n
410 They will all match. If there is no password you will still be offered
411 numbers but nothing will happen when you input a string. Any match is
414 === 0^TALK <call> <text>^Send a text message to another station
415 === 0^TALK <call> > <node> <text>^Send a text message to another station via a node
416 Send a short message to any other station that is visible on the cluster
417 system. You can send it to anyone you can see with a SHOW/CONFIGURATION
418 command, they don't have to be connected locally.
420 The second form of TALK is used when other cluster nodes are connected
421 with restricted information. This usually means that they don't send
422 the user information usually associated with logging on and off the cluster.
424 If you know that G3JNB is likely to be present on GB7TLH, but you can only
425 see GB7TLH in the SH/C list but with no users, then you would use the
426 second form of the talk message.
428 === 0^WX <text>^Send a weather message to local users
429 === 0^WX FULL <text>^Send a weather message to all cluster users
430 === 5^WX SYSOP <text>^Send a weather message to other clusters only
431 Weather messages can sometimes be useful if you are experiencing an extreme
432 that may indicate enhanced conditions