Announcements AR-Cluster V6 User Manual

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 made. You can also query 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.

Making Announcements

The Announce command is used to make a general broadcast to users connected to your local node.

Example:

ann Ten meters is open to the Pacific

To make an announcement to all users across the network use the FULL operator.

Example:

announce/full anyone know the QSL info for DX0DX?

announce/full Six meters is open to Europe

Real-Time Announcements

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 Set/Ann commands. To display past announcements, use the Show/Ann command.

Show Announcement

The SHow Announce command can be used to output the latest announcement spots.

Example:

show/ann

The Show/Ann/nn command allows you to specify the number of announcement spots displayed.

Examples:

show/ann/10

show ann 30

The Show/Ann – command can be used to display past announcements while disabling Ann Filters. See Set/Ann/Filter for announce filter options.

Examples:

show/ann -

show ann 30 –

The Show/Ann ann command can be used to filter announcement on the announce message. The command executes using an exact match. You can use the wildcard character "*" to do wildcard matches.

Examples:

show/ann msg=RTTY

show/ann spotter=cyoa

show/ann msg=*qsl*
show/ann msg=*qsl* or msg=*via*

The Show/Ann Spotter command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by spotter.

Examples:

show/ann Spotter=k5xh
 

The Show/Ann SpotterNode command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by the spotting node.

Examples:

show ann SpotterNode=w9zrx
 

The Show/Ann SpotterCty command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by spotter CTY country. The country list is based off the wpxloc.dat file.

Examples:

show/ann SpotterCty=k
 

The Show/Ann SpotterState command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by spotter state.

Examples:

show/ann spotterstate=tx
show/ann spotterstate=tx or spotterstate=nm
 

The Show/Ann SpotterCont command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by spotter continent.

Examples:

show/ann spottercont=na
show/ann spottercont=na or spottercont=sa
 

The Show/Ann DTS command can be used to display announcement spots filtered by date-time stamp.

Examples:

show/ann dts>2011-12-17 03:04:55 and dts<2011-12-18 03:04:55
show/ann dts>2011-12-11 03:04:55

Show Announce Options

The SHow Announce Options command is used to display the Announce spot options. The following options are displayed:

Ann/Count – The default number of displayed Announce spots.

Ann/Filter – The Announce filter parameters

Ann/ChatRooms – Chat rooms that you are subscribed to.

Ann/Mode – The filter mode for announce spots. Valid modes are: Open, Filter and Debug

Ann/Output – The output mode for announce spots. Valid modes are: Off, and User. Normally set to user.

Ann/Wrap – Turns on the wrap for announcement spots. Valid modes are: Off, and On. Defaults to off.

Examples:

show/announce/options

Output:

Set Announce Options

The following options can be set using the SET/ANN command:

Set/Ann/Count – Set the default number of displayed announce spots

Set/Ann/Filter – Sets the announce filter

Set/Ann/Mode – Sets the filter mode for announce spots. Valid modes are: Open, Filter and Debug

Set/Ann/Output – Sets the output mode for announce spots. Valid modes are: Off and User.

Set/Ann/ChatRooms – Sets the chat rooms.

Set/Ann/Wrap – Sets the announcement wrap on and off.

Set/Ann/Default – Sets announce options back to their default factory settings.

Set Announce Count

The SEt Announce Count command is used to set the default number of spots displayed for real-time and past announcements.

Examples:

set/ann/count 10

Set Announce Default

The SEt Announce Default command is used to set the announcement options back to the default settings. Default factory settings are:

Count – 20

Filter – Cleared

Mode – Filter

Wrap - Off

Output – User

Set Announce Filter

The SEt Announce Filter command is used to set the filters for the real-time and playback of past announce spots. Advanced filter validation logic is used to verify filter changes and bad filter settings are rejected back to the user.

Examples:

set/ann/filter SpotterCont=na

set/ann/filter SpotterCty=k

set/ann/filter Spotterstate=tx or Spotterstate=ok

The fields available for the Announce Spot Filter are:

To	Distribution or group
Msg	Announcement text
Spotter	Spotter callsign
SpotterNode	Callsign of the spotting node
SpotterCty	Country of the spotter – follows the wpxloc.dat file
SpotterState	Spotter state if US or VE
SpotterCont	Spotter continent
SysopFlag	SysopFlag
DTS	Date-Time-Stamp

Set Announce Mode

The SEt Announce Mode command is used to set filter mode for real-time announcements. Valid modes are: Open, Filter and Debug. Settings are defined as:

OPEN – Turn off the announce filter and display all spots.

FILTER – Activate the announce filter based on the SET/ANN/FILTER settings

DEBUG – Activate the announce filter based on the SET/ANN/FILTER settings. Show filtered spots with a “-” and unfiltered spots with a “+”. Used for filter debug.

Examples:

set/ann/mode open

set/ann/mode filter

set/ann/mode debug

Set Announce Output

The SEt Announce Output command is used to set output mode for real-time announce spots. Valid modes are: Off and User. Set settings are defined as:

OFF – Turn off real-time announcements spots.

User – Display the normal user spot format.

Examples:

set/ann/output on

set/ann/output off

Set Announce Wrap

The SEt Announce Wrap command is used to wrap long announce messages

Examples:

set/ann/wrap on

set/ann/wrap off