A Brief Packet Cluster Tutorial

Adapted from the WU3V East Coast Megacluster

[Command Reference][Telnet Access to DX Packets Clusters][NG3K Home]

A cluster system is a DXer's desktop utility. The system has many commands to provide DX information, mail, bulletins/files, and informational databases. You won't need to know all of them to make the network work for you. Following is a introduction to the ones a DXer should know to best benefit from a DX Cluster.

When you logged on you probably went through a registration dialogue asking for your name and QTH. If you were not and plan on returning to utilize the network, it is normally asked that you provide your name, QTH, and latitude/longitude of your station. Here's how:

To enter your name, type SET/NAME [name], e.g. SET/NAME Chuck.
To enter your QTH (or full address/telephone), type SET/QTH [qth] as in this example: SET/QTH Kensington 20895, Montgomery County.
To use the features which give the DX station heading, and sunrise-sunset times, you need to enter your latitude and longitude. Enter for example, SET/LOCATION 39 2 N 77 7 W.
To verify the information entered, type in SHOW/STATION [yourcall], i.e. SHOW/STATION K2YMD. Using some other user's callsign, you can get their station information.

The most important item of the network is the sending and receiving of DX information. To see what DX has been sent, type SHOW/DX. This will list the last 5 DX annoucements. If you're interested in one band, say 10 meters, type SHOW/DX 10. To find spots of a particular call, use: SHOW/DX [callsign], e.g. SHOW DX XZ1N. To send a DX annoucement, the format is: DX [freq] [call] [comment-optional], e.g. DX 14223.4 VU2TTC -or- DX 28012.0 9X5AA QSL via W4FRU

Although examples here are given in UPPER CASE, lower case will work equally well.

Other primary commands are:

BYE or QUIT to log off the network
SHOW/WWV lists last 5 WWV solar flux reports
DIRECTORY or LIST lists last 5 (or more) mail messages since last checked
READ nbr reads that particular numbered mail message
READ reads mail messages addressed TO YOU
DELETE nbr deletes a mail message (to or from you)
SEND call send a mail message to someone (call) on system
SHOW/BULLETIN lists the directory of bulletin files
TYPE/BU filename reads the bulletin (filename) requested
SHOW/HEADING pfx gives the heading of the country prefix requested
SHOW/SUN pfx gives the sunrise/sunset of country prefix requested
TALK call msg send a one-line message to someone (call) on system
SHOW/COMMAND lists the available information databases

DX CLUSTER USER COMMAND SUMMARY

COMMAND	FORM/SYNTAX	COMMAND DESCRIPTION
ANNOUNCE	A msg	Announcement to LOCAL users only
ANNOUNCE/nodecall	A/call msg	Announcement to users on node (call)
ANNOUNCE/FULL	A/F msg	Announcement to users on ALL NODES
BYE or QUIT	B or Q	Log off node
DELETE or KILL	DE msg# or K #	Delete a mail message
DIRECTORY or LIST	DI or L	List last 5 mail messages
DIRECTORY/ALL	DI/A	List all active mail messages
DIRECTORY/NEW	DI/N	List all new mail messages
DIRECTORY/OWN	DI/O	List mail TO or FROM you
DX	DX fq call cmt	Announce a DX station
HELP or ?H or ?	Brief command summary
READ	R	Read a mail message TO YOU
READ	R msg#	Read a specific mail message
READ	R/filearea fn	Read a file in a specified filearea
REPLY	REP	Reply to a read message TO YOU
REPLY/DELETE	REP/D	Reply to a read message & delete
SEND	S all or call	Send a mail message to (all) (call)
SEND/PRIVATE	S/P call	Send a PRIVATE mail message
SEND/RR	S/RR call	Send mail message with return receipt
SET/HERE	SET/H	Specify you're at the keyboard
SET/LOCATION	SET/LO	Enter your latitude/longitude
SET/NAME	SET/NA	Enter your name
SET/NEED	SET/NE pfx,pfx	Specify your needed countries
SET/NOHERE	SET/NOH	Specify you're away from keyboard
SET/NONEED	SET/NON pfx	Delete needed countries
SET/QTH	SET/Q	Enter your address/city
SHOW/ANNOUNCEMENT	SH/AN	Show last 5 TO ALL announcements
SHOW/BULLADDR	SH/BULLA	Show list of TO ALL mail addresses
SHOW/BULLETINS	SH/BU	Show files in BULLETIN files area
SHOW/CLUSTER	SH/CL	Show number of nodes & users
SHOW/COMMANDS	SH/COM	Show available DATABASE commands
SHOW/CONF/NODE	SH/C/N	Show nodes connected
SHOW/CONFIGURATION	SH/C	Show nodes and users connected
SHOW/DX	SH/D	Show last 5 DX announcements
SHOW/DX	SH/D band	Show last 5 DX spots on (band)
SHOW/DX	SH/D call	Show last 5 DX spots for (call)
SHOW/DX	SH/D frq1 frq2	Show DX spots between Freq1-Freq2
SHOW/FILES	SH/FI	Show files in GENERAL files area
SHOW/HEADING	SH/H prefix	Show beam heading to a country
SHOW/LOCATION	SH/LOC call	Show lat/long/distance for user
SHOW/LOG	SH/LOG	Show last 5 system log entries
SHOW/LOG	SH/LOG call	Show system log for user (call)
SHOW/MUF	SH/MU prefix	Show MUF to country (prefix)
SHOW/NEED	SH/NE call	Show country needs of user (call)
SHOW/NEED	SH/NE prefix	Show user calls needing (prefix)
SHOW/NOTICE	SH/NO	Show (review) local node notice
SHOW/PREFIX	SH/PR prefix	Show country assigned and zones
SHOW/STATION	SH/ST call	Show information on user (call)
SHOW/SUN	SH/SU prefix	Show sunrise/sunset for (prefix)
SHOW/USERS	SH/U	Show users logged onto local node
SHOW/USERS/FULL	SH/U/F	Show users logged onto all nodes
SHOW/USER	SH/U call	Show NAME/QTH of user (call)
SHOW/WWV	SH/W	Show last 5 WWV announcements
TALK	T call	Enter talk mode to a user (call)
TALK	T call msg	Send a 1-line message to user (call)
TYPE	TY fn.ext	Display a file in BULLETIN area
TYPE/FILES	TY/FI fn.ext	Display a file in GENERAL area
UPDATE	UPD/filename	Update a DATABASE file (restricted)
UPLOAD/BULLETIN	UPL/BU fn.ext	Upload a file to BULLETIN file area
UPLOAD/FILE	UPL/FI fn.ext	Upload a file to GENERAL file area
WWV	WWV sfi=,a=,k=	Send Solar Flux as reported on WWV
EXIT A MESSAGE	/EXIT	Enter this command on a new line

Note: This list is NOT complete, but contains the MOST USED user commands.

Last updated: October 6, 1996
http://www.cpcug.org/user/wfeidt/Misc/pctut.html