Basic Cluster Commands

A list and description of the commands follows in a later section of this book, but some of the basic ones are summarized below.

SHOW/DX lists the last 5 DX entries. You can modify this in several different ways to change the quantity, make it band selective, or prefix selective. This is a terrific search tool. No longer will you have to ask on the repeater if anyone can remember the time or frequency that a station last appeared--it is right here and available on your packet terminal. See the discussion of it in the section of the manual on User Instructions. On-line help is as close as typing HELP SHOW/DX.

SHOW/SUN is for the lowbanders. This command is followed by a prefix--anything from the countries list. Example is SHOW/SUN ZL which shows you TODAY's sunrise and sunset times in New Zealand.

SHOW/MUF followed by a prefix shows you the maximum useable frequency to that country for the current clock time--a great on-line tool for scheduling your contacts on another band.

SHOW/HEADING followed by a prefix gives you the great circle route heading based on your own latitude and longitude--on-line help for which way to point the beam. It also gives you the distance in statute miles and kilometers for the path to that country.

SHOW/USERS gives you an immediate list of all the people currently connected to the local node. SHOW/USERS, followed by a call, will search the user file and respond with the information that we have available on that user.

SHOW/CONFIGURATION is a variation on SHOW/USERS. It gives you the same data for the local node, but shows you which other nodes are currently connected into the network, along with the number of users connected to each. We are not always connected to those other nodes--but when we are, the node calls are listed in that manner.

You can enter DX into the system by typing:

DX callsign frequency

You may also enter it as DX frequency callsign --the order does not matter. The information you enter will be distributed to all the other users in the system and the system will automatically append today's date, the time (UTC), and your call, and enter it into the DX log file. There is also space for remarks as necessary. An example is as follows:

DX VK9MM 14020 Good signal

Or

DX 14020 VK9MM Good signal

The information will be distributed to the rest of the network and appear on all the other user screens in the system as follows:  

DX de K4IKR: 14020 VK9MM Good signal 0242Z

SHOW/WWV will give you the 5 latest WWV propagation report entries including the Solar Flux, A Index and K Index along with the forecast. This data is also used in the SHOW/MUF calculations. There is also a SHOW/OBLAST command for those interested in finding out what oblast a given Russian callsign is in. You can do a SHOW/OBL followed by a return to get extra help on this one.

You can use the TALK command (TALK callsign) to send a message to anyone in the user list--regardless of which city he is in--the computers do the work of message routing etc. There are two kinds of Talk command--the full Talk mode is entered by doing a TALK followed by a callsign and a carriage return. This puts you in the "permanent" Talk mode until you type a Ctrl-Z and terminate it--it is used when you intend to carry on a brief little conversation with someone that may encompass several lines. Remember that anything you type from here on out is sent to that person--so it takes special care, once you're in Talk mode, to do a SHOW/USERS or a SHOW/DX. You must preface this with a * or else the person you're Talking to sees a SHOW/DX suddenly on his screen. The second type of Talk mode is used for simple one line messages and is by far the most often used. TALK callsign followed by a one line message before the carriage return will accomplish a lot. Again, you can do one of these to any user and send him a brief message.

ANNOUNCE will make an announcement to all the local stations on the network. You may also make an announcement to all users on all nodes by typing ANNOUNCE/FULL. This is good for notices of DX interest such as:

ANNOUNCE FR5DX will be on 28510 at 1530Z tomorrow.

You may also announce selectively by node by typing ANN/Nodecall (the callsign of the node where you wish to make the announcement. For example:

ANN/K4KR Does anyone have info on the Laos expedition?

would make this announcement on the K4KR node in Atlanta.