1 <!doctype linuxdoc system>
5 <!-- Title information -->
7 <title>The DXSpider User Manual v1.50</title>
8 <author>Ian Maude, G0VGS, (g0vgs@gb7mbc.net)</author>
9 <date>March 2003 revision 0.4</date>
12 A complete reference for users of the DXSpider DXCluster program.
15 <!-- Table of contents -->
18 <!-- Begin the document -->
22 <sect1>What is a DX Cluster?
25 A DX Cluster is a packet node where DX chasers on any band or mode can
26 post rare or interesting stations that they have worked or heard. Of
27 course other people are doing the same thing too, so you can find new
28 DX as well as telling others about the stations you have worked.
29 Clusters tend to be linked to each other so that the amount of people
30 using them is increased, thereby increasing the amount of posted DX.
31 Other information can be found on clusters such as on-line call books,
32 mail etc. You can talk to other stations connected to the cluster
33 network too, in real time, whether at the node you are logged into or
34 on another node connected to the network. You can also use converse
35 mode, where several stations can talk to each other in the same way.
36 Of course, the DX is still posted to you all the while!
38 <sect1>So what is DXSpider?
41 PacketCluster nodes have been around since roughly 1985. The original
42 PacketCluster idea came from Dick Newell, AK1A, and ran under DOS.
43 In about 1992 Dick stopped the development of the PacketCluster
44 software for amateur radio. Many systems are still using this
45 relatively old DOS software today.
47 There are several new compatible cluster programs around now,
48 including DXSpider. DXSpider is a clone of PacketCluster software that runs
49 under several operating systems including Linux and Windows. Linux is fast
50 becoming the choice for amateur radio stations because of it's flexibility,
51 reliability and the lack of the memory limitations of DOS. Linux supports
52 multitasking and is also multiuser. It has support for AX25, ROSE,
53 NetROM and TCPIP built in, making it the ideal choice for amateur
54 radio. It is also totally free!
56 DXSpider was conceived and begun in 1998 by Dirk Koopman, G1TLH as an
57 exercise in perl programming. It has developed rapidly and today is a
58 very powerful cluster program. It was designed to be totally compatible
59 with the AK1A program, although several commands have been extended to
60 improve functionality.
62 This manual is designed to help you become familiar with the commands
63 that DXSpider supports and to help you get the best from the program so
64 you can enjoy working that rare DX! As DXSpider is being improved all the
65 time, commands will be added as time goes by, so make sure you have
66 the most upto date version of this manual. The latest version will
67 always be included with the cluster program so if you are unsure, simply
68 ask your sysop. The manual will also be available on the wesite.
71 <sect>Logins and logouts.
74 You might not think that there is a lot of point of including a
75 section on how to log in and out of DXSpider. However, you would be
76 suprised at the difficulties some people have in simply getting in
77 and out of the cluster!
79 There are several ways a login might be achieved, dependant on how
80 the sysop has DXSpider configured. It is impossible for me to cover all
81 variations but here are the basic ones.
86 Simplicity itself. The usual <bf>CONNECT</bf> command will log you straight
87 into the cluster and you will not have to do anything else.
88 Obviously, you will have to connect to the correct callsign. Some
89 nodes use an SSID with their call so you would have to add that.
101 There are several possibilities here, dependant on how the sysop has
102 configured his system. If you are connecting via netrom then you are
103 most probably connecting from another station. Listing the nodes in
104 that station with the <bf>NODES</bf> command will tell you what callsign
105 or netrom alias to connect to. Then just issue the connect command
106 from there. It is possible that the netrom alias may connect you to
107 a node with an alias for the cluster, such as DXC. Just type this
108 and you will be connected.
115 <sect1>Telnet logins.
118 With telnet connections, the source callsign is not seen by DXSpider, so
119 you will be asked to login with your callsign.
120 To telnet to DXSpider, you would connect to a specific port. There is no
121 standard at the moment for a cluster telnet port but ask the sysop if
130 All the above are possible ways of connecting to a DXSpider cluster. You
131 may have some or all of these available to you. There may be one or
132 two additional ways to connect dependant on the network local to you.
133 However I am sure you get the idea.
138 Logging out can be done by simply issuing the standard <bf>BYE</bf>
141 You could also send a disconnect if you are using AX25, or a <bf>CLOSE</bf>
142 command if you are connected via telnet.
143 If you do not log out gracefully using one of the above commands,
144 you may find you are unable to get a full connect next time. This
145 may also happen if a netrom connection drops. You may get connected,
146 but nothing else will happen because the program thinks you are still
147 connected and will not let you connect twice under the same call.
148 However you could reconnect by adding a number to the end of your call,
150 This can be done by either altering your MYCALL setting in the TNC or
151 by altering your program configuration.
154 <sect>Setting your personal details.
157 Once logged in to the cluster, you should set your details so that
158 anybody who wishes to contact you can find out who and where you are.
159 There are four items to set, your name, qth, location and home node.
160 Setting these details also allows the use of the SHOW/HEADING and
161 SHOW/SUN commands from within the cluster. Unless you set your QTH
162 and location, these commands cannot function.
163 Once you have set your name, DXSpider will greet you with it next time
164 you login. Your QTH setting is where you live and it is a good idea
165 to add your locator to this as the location setting is converted to
166 latitude and longitude once inputted. You can actually set your location
167 in latitude/longitude or as a locator. Setting your home node will
168 tell the program where you wish mail to be sent to you.
174 set/qth Morecambe, Lancashire IO84NB
175 set/location 48 34 n 12 12 e
180 <sect>Getting and posting DX.
183 When all is said and done, this is the main function of a DX cluster.
184 In its simplest form you can just connect to the node and you will
185 start to receive DX spots almost immediately! You can check on
186 recent postings in either a general manner or on a particular band or
187 mode. You can even check DX by callsign or a fragment of a callsign.
188 Of course, once you get the hang of things, it is expected that you
189 start posting some yourself! After all, there would be no clusters
190 if people did not post DX and you get the added thrill of the hunt!
195 As we have already said, it is possible just to connect to the
196 cluster and you will receive spots automatically. However, you may
197 wish to check on spots just posted. Maybe you wish to see if a
198 particular band is open or if a certain callsign is active, perhaps a
199 DXpedition. The command to do this is <bf>SHOW/DX</bf>. Without any
200 other arguments, this command will output the last 10 spots
201 posted. It is possible to look at more than this, for example the
202 last 20 or 50 spots, by adding the number to the command. You can
203 make it even more specific by adding a band in either wavelength or
204 frequency, and/or any additional information such as QSL details.
214 will show the last 10, 5 and 20 spots received by the cluster
225 will show the last 5, 10 or 20 spots on 20 metres only.
227 It is also possible to check for certain callsigns, or fragments of
228 callsigns in the same way.
237 would show the last 5 or 10 dx spots containing the callsign g0vgs.
240 You can check for DX by offset and also by specifying a comment to
251 would show the spots that arrived between 30 and 40 spots ago and any
252 spots with the word <em>iota</em> in the comment field. The case of
253 the comment is not important.
255 Checking DX posted on a certain day is possible too. All you have
256 to do here is to specify how many days ago it was like this ...
264 It is of course possible to specify multiple arguments.
269 show/dx 20 prefix 9a on vhf day 30
272 This would show the last 20 spots posted by or about calls with the prefix
273 9a on vhf 30 days ago.
275 As you can see the <bf>SHOW/DX</bf> command is very flexible, so if you are
276 not sure whether something will work or not, try it and see! More
277 information can be found in the Command Set section.
282 To post DX you use the <bf>DX</bf> command. The syntax is shown below.
287 dx (frequency) (callsign) (remarks)
290 Where frequency is in kilohertz and the callsign is the callsign of
291 the station you have worked or heard, (ie not your own callsign!).
292 The remarks section allows you to add information like the operators
293 name or perhaps a location. Actually DXSpider will allow the frequency
294 and callsign fields to be entered in any order.
299 dx 14004 pa3ezl OP Aurelio 599
302 In fact, all the following will give the same result...
305 dx 14004 pa3ezl OP Aurelio 599
306 dx pa3ezl 14004 OP Aurelio 599
307 dx pa3ezl 14.004 OP Aurelio 599
310 This posting, or callout as it is known, will be forwarded to all
311 other connected stations both at the cluster you are connected to and
312 other active clusters in the network. The callout will also be sent
313 to you as proof of receipt.
315 <sect>Headings and propagation
318 There are three commands in DXSpider to help you get the best DX possible.
319 These are <bf>SHOW/SUN</bf>, <bf>SHOW/MOON</bf> and
320 <bf>SHOW/HEADING</bf>. These commands will only work for you if you
321 have entered your personal details. They use your entered location as
322 a reference, so if you have not entered it or have entered it incorrectly
323 they will not return the correct information.
328 The <bf>SHOW/SUN</bf> command can be used in three different ways. It
329 can be used to show sunrise and sunset times for your own station, a
330 particular callsign or a prefix.
338 The output from this would look something like this ..
342 Location Rise Set Azim Elev
343 G0VGS Morecambe, Lancashire 07:08Z 17:39Z 205.3 24.1
350 would look like this ...
354 Location Rise Set Azim Elev
355 5B Cyprus-5B 04:23Z 15:40Z 244.0 18.8
358 You can also specify multiple arguments like this ...
361 sh/sun gw4veq 5b4ab zs
364 and then the output would look like this ...
367 sh/sun gw4veq 5b4ab zs
368 Location Rise Set Azim Elev
369 GW4VEQ Brungwran, Isle of Anglesey IO 07:14Z 17:48Z 204.9 24.9
370 5B Cyprus-5B 04:23Z 15:40Z 244.5 18.3
371 ZS So-Africa-ZS1-ZS 04:31Z 17:28Z 289.9 41.3
372 ZS So-Africa-ZS5-ZS 03:44Z 16:34Z 278.5 32.0
373 ZS So-Africa-ZS6-ZS 03:59Z 16:42Z 277.6 35.0
379 The <bf>SHOW/MOON</bf> command works in the same way as the
380 <bf>SHOW/SUN</bf> command. This program however, calculates the
381 rise and set times of the moon for a prefix or callsign, together
382 with the current azimuth and elevation of the sun at these
391 The output from this command would look like this ..
395 Location Rise Set Azim Elev RGain dB
396 EA Spain-EA 08:15Z 20:09Z 257.2 9.5 -0.6
399 You can see that the output is similar to the <bf>SHOW/SUN</bf>
400 command, with slightly different fields.
405 The <bf>SHOW/HEADING</bf> command works in the same way as the
406 <bf>SHOW/SUN</bf> and <bf>SHOW/MOON</bf> commands but outputs beam
407 headings for a specified callsign or prefix. Reciprocal beam headings
416 The output from this command would look like this ..
420 ZL New-Zealand-ZL1-ZL: 7 degs - dist: 11238 mi, 18087 km Reciprocal heading: 355 degs
421 ZL New-Zealand-ZL2-ZL: 9 degs - dist: 11540 mi, 18574 km Reciprocal heading: 353 degs
422 ZL New-Zealand-ZL3-ZL: 19 degs - dist: 11634 mi, 18724 km Reciprocal heading: 345 degs
423 ZL New-Zealand-ZL4-ZL: 34 degs - dist: 11783 mi, 18963 km Reciprocal heading: 332 degs
428 <sect1>Making announcements.
431 Occasionally, you may wish to post something that does not fall into
432 the normal parameters for a DX callout. You may wish to tell
433 everybody connected that 10 FM is open for example, or ask if anyone
434 knows the QSL manager for a certain callsign etc. You can do this
435 using the <bf>ANNOUNCE</bf> command.
440 announce 10 FM is open in IO84NB to europe.
443 That would let everyone know locally that this was the case, however
444 it would not be forwarded to other nodes connected. To send
445 announcements to other connected nodes as well, you would use the
446 <bf>FULL</bf> extension.
451 announce full Anyone seen EA7WA today?
454 Be cautious in your use of announce full. There are many other tools
455 available to get the information you require and the judicious use of
456 this command is frowned upon as it creates a great deal of traffic
459 <sect1>Listing announcements.
462 You can list previous announcements in the standard format with the
463 <bf>SHOW</bf> command. As before you can list just the last 5 or as
470 show/announcements 10
473 <sect>Nodes and users.
476 You can check which nodes are connected in the network, who is
477 logged on locally, who is logged on at all the nodes or even
478 just one node in particular. This is handy if you wish to see whether
479 a friend is connected at the node they use. To see who is connected
480 to the nodes, the <bf>SHOW/CONFIGURATION</bf> command is used.
486 show/configuration/nodes
487 show/configuration (node_call)
488 show/configuration (prefix)
491 The first of our three examples would output something like this,
499 GB7BIG (GD0TEP) GD3UMW
500 GB7BPQ (G0INA) G0RCI G3AKU G3OCA
502 GB7DJK G0FYD G0REK G1TLH G4PEL G4SOZ
503 G4TVR G7SQW K8AZ M0CTQ-1 MM1CXE-10
506 GB7DXC (G0HDB) G0WFK (G1FYC) G3KWK G3LME
507 G3OIL G4BGW G4FUJ (G4PDQ) GW7SMV
509 (GB7DXG) GU6EFB GU7DHI
510 GB7DXK G1NTW G3IBI G3NSM G3XAQ G4CUS
512 GB7DXM G1EUC G3GAF G3LAS G4ZTR G8WXU
516 You will notice that EI5TCR is showing only that it has 7 users and not
517 giving the actual callsigns. This means that this node is on a limited
518 protocol of some kind, probably because of a contest situation where
519 slow radio links can block up and fail if too much information is sent
522 The second example would just show the nodes connected in the
528 GB7BAA GB7BAA GB7BPQ (GB7CDX) GB7DJK GB7DXA
529 GB7DXC GB7DXE (GB7DXG) GB7DXK GB7DXL
530 GB7DXM GB7DXS GB7IPT GB7MRS GB7UJS
531 GB7YDX KL7G N2TLY (ON0DXK)
532 GB7BIG EI5TCR GB7ADX GB7BIG GB7UDX
538 If we insert the node_call pi4tue-8 into the third example, then
539 this would be the output,
543 PI4TUE-8 9A1CMA-6 DF6PW DL4FAY DL4KAK DL4WF-2
544 F5NOD-2 F5PAC IZ0CSR N6CR OH2BLD
545 ON1LVL-13 ON4CBT ON4CJP ON5DXL-14 ON7NQ
546 PA0RCT PA3DYS PA3FDO PA5KW-4 PI4TUE-9
550 As you can see, only the users of the requested node are shown.
552 You can also use a prefix to show only a group of nodes. For example
553 you may only wish to see who is connected to the nodes in the UK. To
554 do this simply use a prefix like this ...
557 show/configuration gb7
560 To show the locally connected users, the <bf>SHOW/USERS</bf> command is
569 The output of this command would look like this,
572 Callsigns connected to GB7MBC
573 G0JHC G0NEI G0VGS G0VGS-2 G0YLM
580 You can send a single comment or start a dedicated talk session to
581 another user by using the <bf>TALK</bf> command.
584 Talk mode is used to send a one line comment or greeting to a
585 specific user connected either at your node or another in the
586 network. You can also enter into a dedicated talk session with
587 another user. Talks will be automatically forwarded to other nodes
588 if the station you are talking to is not connected locally.
589 You can find out who is connected by using the
590 <bf>SHOW/CONFIGURATION</bf> command, (described earlier).
595 talk g0rdi Having a good day Iain?
598 This example would send the line "Having a good day Iain?" to the
599 user g0rdi but would leave you in normal mode.
603 Entering Talkmode, /EX to end, /<cmd> to run a command
607 As you can see, you can still run commands whilst in talk mode.
608 Simply prefix the command with a / like /sh/dx and you will get
610 If the user is connected to another node, you may have to use a
611 slightly extended version of the <bf>TALK</bf> command.
617 To exit talk mode, you issue the command <bf>/ex</bf>.
619 Whilst in talk mode you will still receive DX spots. This means that
620 you can chat to a friend whilst working DX.
625 You can send and receive both personal mail and bulletins with DXSpider
628 <sect1>The "directory" command.
631 To list mail you would use the <bf>DIRECTORY</bf> command. On its
632 own, this command will output the last ten messages received by the
633 node, either to or from yourself or bulletins such as "DX" and "ALL".
634 As with other commands you can display more by specifying a number
635 with the command. You should be aware that Spider will accept
636 these commands by separating with either a slash or a space, so
637 <em>dir new</em> and <em>dir/new</em> work in the same way.
647 Of course most of the time you will only want to list new mail sent
648 to you personally since your last login. However you might also like
649 to check for general mail received by the node. In fact if there is
650 new mail for you, the cluster will tell you when you login. You will
651 also be informed if new mail arrives for you during the time you are
653 Mail is not only sent to callsigns though. Mail can also be sent to
654 subjects like "all" or "local" or "dx" etc. You can treat these
655 bulletins in the same way as personal mail with the directory
665 directory/from <call>
668 The last option will only show mail from a callsign if it was sent to
669 you personally or was sent as a bulletin. There are some additional
670 commands and these can be found in the DXSpider Command Reference section.
675 The output of the <bf>DIRECTORY</bf> command could be something like
680 20735 2 ALL GW7SMV 21-Feb 1204Z REC 9E1S QSL TDY 50Mhz....
681 20823 308 UK G0HDB 22-Feb 2334Z Help - which district code?
682 20824 105 ALL W9AE 23-Feb 0349Z S0NY QSL address?
683 20825 2 UK G0LRJ 23-Feb 0806Z QSL REC LZ2CJ/1.CARD NO-750.
684 20858 2 ALL GW7SMV 24-Feb 0905Z REC S92DX QSL CARD TDY 50Mhz
685 20921 200 ALL GM4FDM 27-Feb 2203Z Trip to VP8
686 20949 375 ALL K0MN 27-Feb 0428Z ST0P cards are gd @ ARRL
687 20950 2 UK G0LRJ 28-Feb 0835Z QSL REC SV9/IZ0CKJ/P EU-187.
688 20987 569 ALL GD0TEP 1-Mar 1733Z Portable contests
689 21076 2 ALL G4AFJ 3-Mar 1743Z kh6nd/kh5 qsl received
690 21184-p 599 GW4HAT G0VGS 4-Mar 1518Z Re: Time
693 The first column is the actual message number. If the message is a
694 personal one to you, you will see a letter 'p' after this number. If
695 the message has been read, there will be a '-' between the message
696 number and the 'p'. This only works for personal messages. The next
697 column shows the file size of the message. The third column shows the
698 address the message was sent to and the next column shows who sent it.
699 The rest is fairly self-explanatory.
701 Reading a message is as simple as typing read, followed by the
702 message number that you wish to read.
710 will read message number 25. However the mail will be displayed in it's
711 entirety unless you specify a page length. You can set your page length
712 to any number you like and when the message reaches that number of lines
713 you will get a prompt giving you options.
725 Sending mail is done in the time honoured way. First you specify
726 a recipient for the message, then you will be prompted for a subject.
727 Once you have done this you will be asked to type your message.
728 Please remember that there is no automatic word wrap, so unless you
729 are using a client that wraps lines automatically, remember to hit
730 return at the end of each line.
736 Enter Subject (30 characters):
738 Enter Message /EX to send or /ABORT to exit
740 Just a quick note to say that I can make Thursday after all. The
741 appointment I had has cancelled so we are go!
746 At this point you can either hit return and enter /ex to send the
747 message or use /abort at any time to abort it. You can now display
748 the message in the normal way. There are several send options and
749 these are listed in the Command Set section. These include sending
750 mail to several recipients and asking for a return receipt.
753 <sect1>Replying to mail.
756 If mail is addressed to you or to a bulletin address, you can use the
757 <bf>REPLY</bf> command to reply to it. Using this command, the
758 subject will be automatically set for you as "Re: subject", whatever
770 To delete a message, you use the <em>delete</em> command.
771 You can only delete messages sent to or received by yourself.
772 Bulletins are dealt with automatically or by the sysop.
774 <sect>Filtering (From version 1.45)
776 <sect1>General filter rules
779 Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters. From
780 v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set filters for just
781 about anything you wish. If you have just updated from an older version of
782 DXSpider you will need to update your new filters. You do not need to do
783 anything with your old filters, they will be renamed as you update.
786 There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These
787 are <em>accept</em>, <em>reject</em> and <em>clear</em>. First we will look
788 generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in the
789 DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism.
792 In general terms you can create a 'reject' or an 'accept' filter which can have
793 up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ...
800 where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There are
801 filters for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects. See each
802 different accept or reject command reference for more details.
804 There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ...
811 There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter.
814 and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ...
821 For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same
822 principles to all types of filter.
824 <sect1>Types of filter
827 There are two main types of filter, <em>accept</em> or <em>reject</em>. You
828 can use either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference
829 and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of reject
830 filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each filter has 10
831 lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a line matches then the
832 action you have specified is taken (ie reject means ignore it and accept
836 If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match the filter
837 will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use an accept filter,
838 then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted and all else will be dumped.
839 For example if you have a single line <em>accept</em> filter ...
842 accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
845 then you will <em>ONLY</em> get VHF spots <em>from</em> or <em>to</em> CQ zones
849 If you set a reject filter like this ...
852 reject/spots on hf/cw
855 Then you will get everything <em>EXCEPT</em> HF CW spots. You could make this
856 single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested in IOTA
857 and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not interested in
858 CW, then you could say ...
861 reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
864 But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
867 accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
870 which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the other
871 until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix them if you
872 wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the same line) but
873 don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you are doing!
876 You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own
877 understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
880 reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
881 reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
884 What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots on VHF
885 which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe.
888 This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this case), if
889 you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits '0'-'9' are available.
890 This make it easier to see just what filters you have set. It also makes it
891 more simple to remove individual filters, during a contest for example.
894 You will notice in the above example that the second line has brackets. Look
895 at the line logically. You can see there are 2 separate sections to it. We
896 are saying reject spots that are VHF or above <em>APART</em> from those in
897 zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or originated there). If you did
898 not have the brackets to separate the 2 sections, then Spider would read it
899 logically from the front and see a different expression entirely ...
902 (on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
905 The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets. Whilst we are
906 here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the same as 'and by_zone'.
908 As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible than
909 simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that if you want
910 to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one or more lines of it or
911 one line. For example ...
914 reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
917 would redefine our earlier example, or
923 To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
929 <sect1>Filter options
932 You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the
933 various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
935 <sect1>Advanced filtering
938 Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment.
941 The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU
942 can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
947 acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
950 Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This
951 will automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have
952 said <em>reject all HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept
953 all others at HF. Also accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or
954 by operators in the zones 14, 15 and 16</em>. Each filter slot actually
955 has a 'reject' slot and an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed
956 BEFORE the accept slot.
959 It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match, the
960 default for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for 'accept'.
961 In the example what happens is that the reject is executed first, any non
962 hf/cw spot is passed to the accept line, which lets through everything
963 else on HF. The next filter line lets through just VHF/UHF spots from EU.
965 <sect1>A Filtering Tutorial
968 There is now an excellent primer/tutorial on filtering written by Jim
969 Samuels, W3BG with an introduction by Dave Hawes N3RD that I strongly
970 suggest you read. You can read it here
971 <htmlurl url="filtering_en.html" name="The DXSpider User Filtering Primer">
973 <sect>Hints, tips and common questions.
976 <bf/Q./These commands seem very long! Can I shorten them?
978 <bf/A./Of course you can and the usual abbreviations work. If you
981 <bf/Q./I am not sure if this command is correct. Can I cause any
984 <bf/A./Do not be afraid to try a command to see if it will work,
985 at the worst you will get an error message. If you require any
986 help on a command, just type help followed by the command you
987 want help on. Look at the "DXSpider Command Reference" section to see
988 what help can be found.
990 <bf/Q./How should I use the announce command?
992 <bf/A./With respect. Use the command by all means, but please
993 only use the "full" extension if absolutely necessary. It can
994 create a LOT of messages passing between clusters.
996 <bf/Q./I like to be working in the shack while logged into the
997 cluster but I can't be looking at the screen all the time. How
998 can I be alerted when anything happens?
1000 <bf/A./Use the <bf>SET/BEEP</bf> command. You can find information
1001 on this in the "DXSpider Command Reference" section.
1003 <bf/Q./I got disconnected from the cluster and now I can't log
1004 back in again. What is wrong?
1006 <bf/A./Probably the cluster thinks you are still logged on and
1007 will not let you reconnect using the same call to prevent loops.
1008 Try logging on again adding an ssid to your callsign as DXSpider
1009 treats G0YLM and G0YLM-1 as different users.
1011 <bf/Q./How do I know if I have got the latest version of this
1014 <bf/A./The latest and greatest will always be on the Website. It will
1015 also be included with every release of DXSpider. As always, if unsure,
1016 ask your sysop what version number is the latest.