Announcements
contain general information that may be important to all users connected on the
network. By being connected into a DX
Cluster you will get announcements in real-time as they are spotted. You can also query the database for past
announcements. Additionally, you can
post announcements to the network.
Announcements
can be made to the whole network, to just the node you are connected to, or to
a specific region.
As
soon as you connect into a DX Cluster you will automatically start receiving
announcements. The display of real-time
announcements can be controlled with the following commands.
Examples:
set/noannouncements
set/announcements
You can list previous announcements in the standard
format with the SHOW/ANNOUNCEMENTS command. The default number in the listing is set by your sysop. Announcement user filters will be applied
to the resulting display.
Example:
show/announcements
If you want to see more announcements than this you
can also add an optional number to the end of the command as in SHOW/announcements/nn. This will allow you to display the last 20 or 30 announcements.
Examples:
show/announcements/20
show/announcements/30
AR-Cluster also allows the user to program his own
announcement spot queries using SQL.
SQL queries are very powerful and allow you to build custom commands to
query the announcement spot database. With
some simple examples, is not too hard to pick up some SQL basics. The SH/Announcement query commands can be
ran against any of the fields in the announcement spot database.
Examples:
sh/ann where ANN = 'CQ
CQ CQ WSJT, for DXCC via cluster'
sh/ann where FROMCALL =
'K5UTD'
sh/ann where FROMNODE =
'K5DX'
sh/ann where SpotterCty
= 'K'
sh/ann where
SpotterSubCty = 'TX'
sh/ann/30 where
SpotterSubCty = 'TX' OR SpotterSubCty = 'OK'
You can also use the LIKE operator and the
wildcard character "%" to do partial matches.
Example:
sh/ann where ANN LIKE '%QSL%'
sh/ann/30 where ANN LIKE '%QSL%'
The database fields that are available for Advanced
Announcement Spot Queries are:
|
FromCall |
Callsign that originated the spot |
|
ToFlag |
Field indicating who the spot is directed to |
|
Ann |
Announcement message |
|
SysopFlag |
Flag indicating a sysop announcment |
|
FromNode |
Node that originated the announce spot |
|
SrcStation |
Node that we received the spot from |
|
DTS |
Date-Time-Stamp |
|
SpotterCty |
Country of the spotter – follows ARRL.CTY file |
|
SpotterSubCty |
State/Province of the spotter |
The ANNOUNCE command is used to make a general
broadcast to a specified portion of the network. To make an announcement to users on the DX cluster you are
connected to.
Example:
announce Ten meters is open to the Pacific
announce/local Ten meters is open to the Pacific
To make an announcement to users across the whole
network use the FULL operator.
Example:
announce/full anyone know the QSL info for K5K?
announce/full Six is open to Europe
To send an announcement to a users connected to a
specific DX Cluster use the cluster CALLSIGN can be specified int the announce
command.
Example:
announce/K5AB Is anyone hearing the DX on 1.833?
Regional announcements are used to make directed
announcements to selected nodes and users.
In Texas, the following regions are defined:
·
AUS – Austin, Tx - Clusters (AB5K, K5NA, K5AB and
N5UXT)
·
CTDXCC – Local DX and Contest Club – Clusters (AB5K,
K5NA, K5AB and N5UXT)
·
STX – South Texas – Clusters (AB5K, N5UXT,K5NA, K5AB,
KA5EYH-2 and W5BE)
·
TX – Texas - Clusters (AB5K, N5UXT,K5NA, K5AB,
KA5EYH-2, W5BE and N1EW)
Each node has both a routing and a distribution
list for each regional announcement command.
The distribution list keeps announcements local and not accessible to
out-of-area users who may telnet into a node.
The local Austin users chat back and forth on the 4
Austin nodes as follows.
Examples:
a/aus Good morning!
If a user wanted to make a wider announcement to
participating nodes and users in the state of Texas as follows.
Examples:
a/tx Anyone in texas hearing the weak signal on 1.833?