This is the list of user commands currently available within the DX Spider DX Cluster system.
It is automatically generated from the system help files.
- ANNOUNCE <text> Send an announcement to LOCAL users only
<text> is the text of the announcement you wish to broadcast
- ANNOUNCE FULL <text> Send an announcement cluster wide
This will send your announcement cluster wide
- APROPOS <string> Search help database for <string>
Search the help database for <string> (it isn't case sensitive), and print
the names of all the commands that may be relevant.
- BYE Exit from the cluster
This will disconnect you from the cluster
- DBAVAIL Show a list of all the Databases in the system
Title says it all really, this command lists all the databases defined
in the system. It is also aliased to SHOW/COMMAND.
- DBSHOW <dbname> <key> Display an entry, if it exists, in a database
This is the generic user interface to the database to the database system.
It is expected that the sysop will add an entry to the local Aliases file
so that users can use the more familiar AK1A style of enquiry such as:
SH/BUCK G1TLH
but if he hasn't and the database really does exist (use DBAVAIL or
SHOW/COMMAND to find out) you can do the same thing with:
DBSHOW buck G1TLH
- DIRECTORY List messages
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY <from>-<to> List messages <from> message <to> message
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY <nn> List last <nn> messages
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY ALL List all messages
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY FROM <call> List all messages from <call>
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY NEW List all new messages
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY OWN List your own messages
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY SUBJECT <string> List all messages with <string> in subject
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DIRECTORY TO <call> List all messages to <call>
List the messages in the messages directory.
If there is a 'p' one space after the message number then it is a
personal message. If there is a '-' between the message number and the
'p' then this indicates that the message has been read.
You can use shell escape characters such as '*' and '?' in the <call>
fields.
You can combine some of the various directory commands together eg:-
DIR TO G1TLH 5
or
DIR SUBJECT IOTA 200-250
You can abbreviate all the commands to one letter and use ak1a syntax:-
DIR/T G1* 10
DIR/S QSL 10-100 5
- DX [BY <call>] <freq> <call> <remarks> Send a DX spot
This is how you send a DX Spot to other users. You can, in fact, now
enter the <freq> and the <call> either way round.
DX FR0G 144.600
DX 144.600 FR0G
DX 144600 FR0G
will all give the same result. You can add some remarks to the end
of the command and they will be added to the spot.
DX FR0G 144600 this is a test
You can credit someone else by saying:-
DX by G1TLH FR0G 144.600 he isn't on the cluster
The <freq> is compared against the available bands set up in the
cluster. See SHOW/BANDS for more information.
- HELP The HELP Command
HELP is available for a number of commands. The syntax is:-
HELP <cmd>
Where <cmd> is the name of the command you want help on.
All commands can be abbreviated, so SHOW/DX can be abbreviated
to SH/DX, ANNOUNCE can be shortened to AN and so on.
Look at the APROPOS <string> command which will search the help database
for the <string> you specify and give you a list of likely commands
to look at with HELP.
- KILL <msgno> [<msgno> ...] Remove or erase a message from the system
You can get rid of any message to or originating from your callsign using
this command. You can remove more than one message at a time.
- KILL <msgno> [<msgno..] Delete a message from the local system
Delete a message from the local system. You will only be able to delete messages
that you have originated or been sent (unless you are the sysop).
- READ Read the next unread personal message addressed to you
You can read any messages that are sent as 'non-personal' and also any
message either sent by or sent to your callsign.
- READ <msgno> Read the specified message
You can read any messages that are sent as 'non-personal' and also any
message either sent by or sent to your callsign.
- REPLY Reply (privately) to the last message that you have read
You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
"Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
for further details)
- REPLY <msgno> Reply (privately) to the specified message
You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
"Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
for further details)
- REPLY B <msgno> Reply as a Bulletin to the specified message
You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
"Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
for further details)
- REPLY NOPrivate <msgno> Reply as a Bulletin to the specified message
You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
"Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
for further details)
- REPLY RR <msgno> Reply to the specified message with read receipt
You can reply to a message and the subject will automatically have
"Re:" inserted in front of it, if it isn't already present.
You can also use all the extra qualifiers such as RR, PRIVATE,
NOPRIVATE, B that you can use with the SEND command (see SEND
for further details)
- SEND <call> [<call> ...] Send a message to one or more callsigns
All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
that callsign is connected to.
You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
- SEND COPY <msgno> <call> Send a copy of a message to someone
All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
that callsign is connected to.
You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
- SEND NOPRIVATE <call> Send a message to all stations
All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
that callsign is connected to.
You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
- SEND PRIVATE <call> Send a personal message
All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
that callsign is connected to.
You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
- SEND RR <call> Send a message and ask for a read receipt
All the SEND commands will create a message which will be sent either to
an individual callsign or to one of the 'bulletin' addresses.
SEND <call> on its own acts as though you had typed SEND PRIVATE, that is
it will mark the message as personal and send it to the cluster node that
that callsign is connected to.
You can have more than one callsign in all of the SEND commands.
You can have multiple qualifiers so that you can have for example:-
SEND RR COPY 123 PRIVATE G1TLH G0RDI
which should send a copy of message 123 to G1TLH and G0RDI and you will
receive a read receipt when they have read the message.
SB is an alias for SEND NOPRIVATE (or send a bulletin in BBS speak)
SP is an alias for SEND PRIVATE
- SET/ADDRESS <your address> Record your postal address
- SET/ANNOUNCE Allow announce messages to come out on your terminal
- SET/BEEP Add a beep to DX and other messages on your terminal
- SET/DX Allow DX messages to come out on your terminal
- SET/HERE Tell the system you are present at your terminal
- SET/HOMENODE <node> Set your normal cluster callsign
Tell the cluster system where you normally connect to. Any Messages sent
to you will normally find their way there should you not be connected.
eg:-
SET/HOMENODE gb7djk
- SET/LANGUAGE <lang> Set the language you want to use
You can select the language that you want the cluster to use. Currently
the languages available are en (english) and nl (dutch).
- SET/LOCATION <lat & long> Set your latitude and longitude
In order to get accurate headings and such like you must tell the system
what your latitude and longitude is. If you have not yet done a SET/QRA
then this command will set your QRA locator for you. For example:-
SET/LOCATION 52 22 N 0 57 E
- SET/NAME <your name> Set your name
Tell the system what your name is eg:-
SET/NAME Dirk
- SET/PAGE <lines per page> Set the lines per page
Tell the system how many lines you wish on a page when the number of line
of output from a command is more than this. The default is 20. Setting it
explicitly to 0 will disable paging.
SET/PAGE 30
SET/PAGE 0
- SET/QRA <locator> Set your QRA locator
Tell the system what your QRA (or Maidenhead) locator is. If you have not
done a SET/LOCATION then your latitude and longitude will be set roughly
correctly (assuming your locator is correct ;-). For example:-
SET/QRA JO02LQ
- SET/QTH <your qth> Set your QTH
Tell the system where you are. For example:-
SET/QTH East Dereham, Norfolk
- SET/TALK Allow TALK messages to come out on your terminal
- SET/WWV Allow WWV messages to come out on your terminal
- SET/WX Allow WX messages to come out on your terminal
- SHOW/DX Interrogate the spot database
If you just type SHOW/DX you will get the last so many spots
(sysop configurable, but usually 10).
In addition you can add any number of these commands in very nearly
any order to the basic SHOW/DX command, they are:-
on <band> - eg 160m 20m 2m 23cm 6mm
on <region> - eg hf vhf uhf shf (see SHOW/BANDS)
<number> - the number of spots you want
<from>-<to> - <from> spot no <to> spot no in the selected list
<prefix> - for a spotted callsign beginning with <prefix>
*<suffix> - for a spotted callsign ending in <suffix>
*<string>* - for a spotted callsign containing <string>
day <number> - starting <number> days ago
day <from>-<to> - <from> days <to> days ago
info <text> - any spots containing <text> in the info or remarks
by <call> - any spots spotted by <call> (spotter <call> is the
same).
qsl - this automatically looks for any qsl info on the call
held in the spot database.
iota [<iota>] - If the iota island number is missing it will look for
the string iota and anything which looks like an iota
island number. If you specify then it will look for
that island.
qra [<locator>] - this will look for the specific locator if you specify
one or else anything that looks like a locator.
e.g.
SH/DX 9m0
SH/DX on 20m info iota
SH/DX 9a on vhf day 30
SH/DX rf1p qsl
SH/DX iota
SH/DX iota eu-064
SH/DX qra jn86
- SHOW/DXCC <prefix> Interrogate the spot database by country
This command takes the <prefix> (which can be a full or partial
callsign if desired), looks up which internal country number it is
and then displays all the spots as per SH/DX for that country.
The options for SHOW/DX also apply to this command.
e.g.
SH/DXCC G
SH/DXCC W on 20m info iota
- SHOW/FILES [<filearea> [<string>]] List the contents of a filearea
SHOW/FILES on its own will show you a list of the various fileareas
available on the system. To see the contents of a particular file
area type:-
SH/FILES <filearea>
where <filearea> is the name of the filearea you want to see the
contents of.
You can also use shell globbing characters like '*' and '?' in a
string to see a selection of files in a filearea eg:-
SH/FILES bulletins arld*
See also TYPE - to see the contents of a file.
- SHOW/MUF <prefix> [<hours>][long] Show the likely propagation to a prefix
This command allow you to estimate the likelihood of you contacting
a station with the prefix you have specified. The output assumes a modest
power of 20dBW and receiver sensitivity of -123dBm (about 0.15muV/10dB SINAD)
The result predicts the most likely operating frequencies and signal
levels for high frequency (shortwave) radio propagation paths on
specified days of the year and hours of the day. It is most useful for
paths between 250 km and 6000 km, but can be used with reduced accuracy
for paths shorter or longer than this.
The command uses a routine MINIMUF 3.5 developed by the U.S. Navy and
used to predict the MUF given the predicted flux, day of the year,
hour of the day and geographic coordinates of the transmitter and
receiver. This routine is reasonably accurate for the purposes here,
with a claimed RMS error of 3.8 MHz, but much smaller and less complex
than the programs used by major shortwave broadcasting organizations,
such as the Voice of America.
The command will display some header information detailing its
assumptions, together with the locations, latitude and longitudes and
bearings. It will then show UTC (UT), local time at the other end
(LT), calculate the MUFs, Sun zenith angle at the midpoint of the path
(Zen) and the likely signal strengths. Then for each frequency for which
the system thinks there is a likelihood of a circuit it prints a value.
The value is currently a likely S meter reading based on the conventional
6dB / S point scale. If the value has a '+' appended it means that it is
1/2 an S point stronger. If the value is preceeded by an 'm' it means that
there is likely to be much fading and by an 's' that the signal is likely
to be noisy.
By default SHOW/MUF will show the next two hours worth of data. You
can specify anything up to 24 hours worth of data by appending the no of
hours required after the prefix. For example:-
SH/MUF W
produces:
RxSens: -123 dBM SFI: 159 R: 193 Month: 10 Day: 21
Power : 20 dBW Distance: 6283 km Delay: 22.4 ms
Location Lat / Long Azim
East Dereham, Norfolk 52 41 N 0 57 E 47
United-States-W 43 0 N 87 54 W 299
UT LT MUF Zen 1.8 3.5 7.0 10.1 14.0 18.1 21.0 24.9 28.0 50.0
18 23 11.5 -35 mS0+ mS2 S3
19 0 11.2 -41 mS0+ mS2 S3
indicating that you will have weak, fading circuits on top band and
80m but usable signals on 40m (about S3).
inputing:-
SH/MUF W 24
will get you the above display, but with the next 24 hours worth of
propagation data.
SH/MUF W L 24
SH/MUF W 24 Long
Gives you an estimate of the long path propagation characterics. It
should be noted that the figures will probably not be very useful, nor
terrible accurate, but it is included for completeness.
- SHOW/PREFIX <callsign> Interrogate the prefix database
This command takes the <callsign> (which can be a full or partial
callsign or a prefix), looks up which internal country number
it is and then displays all the relevant prefixes for that country
together with the internal country no, the CQ and ITU regions.
See also SHOW/DXCC
- SHOW/SUN [<callsign>|<prefix>] Display sunrise and sunset times
Show the sunrise and sunset times for a callsign (if it is known to the
cluster), a prefix or, if nothing is specified, at your QTH (if you have
remembered to set your location using SET/LOCATION or SET/QRA). If all else
fails it will show the sunrise and set times for the node that you are
connected to.
You can enter more than one prefix or callsign:-
SH/SUN G1TLH G8TIC W9
- SHOW/WWV Show last 10 WWV broadcasts
Display the most recent WWV information that has been received by the system
- SHOW/WWV <n> Show last <n> WWV broadcasts
Display the most recent WWV information that has been received by the system
- SYSOP Regain your privileges if you login remotely
The system automatically reduces your privilege level to that of a
normal user if you login in remotely. This command allows you to
regain your normal privilege level. It uses the normal system: five
numbers are returned that are indexes into the character array that is
your assigned password (see SET/PASSWORD). The indexes start from
zero.
You are expected to return a string which contains the characters
required in the correct order. You may intersperse those characters
with others to obscure your reply for any watchers. For example (and
these values are for explanation :-):
password = 012345678901234567890123456789
> sysop
22 10 15 17 3
you type:-
aa2bbbb0ccc5ddd7xxx3n
or 2 0 5 7 3
or 20573
They will all match. If there is no password you will still be offered
numbers but nothing will happen when you input a string. Any match is
case sensitive.
- TALK <call> > <node> <text> Send a text message to another station via a node
Send a short message to any other station that is visible on the cluster
system. You can send it to anyone you can see with a SHOW/CONFIGURATION
command, they don't have to be connected locally.
The second form of TALK is used when other cluster nodes are connected
with restricted information. This usually means that they don't send
the user information usually associated with logging on and off the cluster.
If you know that G3JNB is likely to be present on GB7TLH, but you can only
see GB7TLH in the SH/C list but with no users, then you would use the
second form of the talk message.
- TALK <call> <text> Send a text message to another station
Send a short message to any other station that is visible on the cluster
system. You can send it to anyone you can see with a SHOW/CONFIGURATION
command, they don't have to be connected locally.
The second form of TALK is used when other cluster nodes are connected
with restricted information. This usually means that they don't send
the user information usually associated with logging on and off the cluster.
If you know that G3JNB is likely to be present on GB7TLH, but you can only
see GB7TLH in the SH/C list but with no users, then you would use the
second form of the talk message.
- TYPE <filearea>/<name> Look at the contents of a file in one of the fileareas
Type out the contents of a file in a filearea. So, for example, in
filearea 'bulletins' you want to look at file 'arld051' you would
enter:-
TYPE bulletins/arld051
See also SHOW/FILES to see what fileareas are available and a
list of content.
- UNSET/ANNOUNCE Stop announce messages coming out on your terminal
- UNSET/BEEP Stop beeps for DX and other messages on your terminal
- UNSET/DX Stop DX messages coming out on your terminal
- UNSET/HERE Tell the system you are absent from your terminal
- UNSET/TALK Stop TALK messages coming out on your terminal
- UNSET/WWV Stop WWV messages coming out on your terminal
- UNSET/WX Stop WX messages coming out on your terminal
- WHO Show who is physically connected
This is a quick listing that shows which callsigns are connected and
what sort of connection they have
- WX <text> Send a weather message to local users
Weather messages can sometimes be useful if you are experiencing an extreme
that may indicate enhanced conditions
- WX FULL <text> Send a weather message to all cluster users
Weather messages can sometimes be useful if you are experiencing an extreme
that may indicate enhanced conditions