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| ==Filtering (From version 1.45)== | | ==Hints, tips and common questions== |
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| ===General filter rules===
| | '''Q. These commands seem very long! Can I shorten them? |
| | ''' |
| | Of course you can and the usual abbreviations work. If you are |
| | unsure, try it. |
|
| |
|
| Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters.
| | '''Q. I am not sure if this command is correct. Can I cause any harm if I try it?''' |
| From v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set
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| filters for just about anything you wish. If you have just updated
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| from an older version of DXSpider you will need to update your new
| |
| filters. You do not need to do anything with your old filters, they
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| will be renamed as you update.
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|
| |
|
| | Do not be afraid to try a command to see if it will work, at the |
| | worst you will get an error message. If you require any help on a |
| | command, just type help followed by the command you want help on. |
| | Look at the "DXSpider Command Reference" section to see what help can |
| | be found. |
|
| |
|
| There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating
| | '''Q. How should I use the announce command?''' |
| filters. These are accept, reject and clear. First we will look
| |
| generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in
| |
| the DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism.
| |
|
| |
|
| | With respect. Use the command by all means, but please only use the |
| | "full" extension if absolutely necessary. It can create a LOT of |
| | messages passing between clusters. |
|
| |
|
| In general terms you can create a 'reject' or an 'accept' filter which
| | '''Q. I like to be working in the shack while logged into the cluster but I can't be looking at the screen all the time. How can I be alerted when anything happens?''' |
| can have up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ...
| |
|
| |
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| accept/spots ..... | | Use the SET/BEEP command. You can find information on this in the |
| reject/spots ..... | | "DXSpider Command Reference" section. |
|
| |
|
| where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There
| | '''Q. I got disconnected from the cluster and now I can't log back in again. What is wrong?''' |
| are filters for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects.
| |
| See each different accept or reject command reference for more
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| details.
| |
|
| |
|
| There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter.
| | Probably the cluster thinks you are still logged on and will not let |
| They are ...
| | you reconnect using the same call to prevent loops. Try logging on |
| | again adding an ssid to your callsign as DXSpider treats G0YLM and |
| | G0YLM-1 as different users. |
|
| |
|
| | '''Q. How do I know if I have got the latest version of this user manual?''' |
|
| |
|
| clear/spots 1 | | The latest and greatest will always be on the Website. It will also |
| clear/spots all
| | be included with every release of DXSpider. As always, if unsure, ask |
| | | your sysop what version number is the latest. |
| | |
| | |
| There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter.
| |
| | |
| | |
| and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ... | |
| | |
| show/filter
| |
| | |
| For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply
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| the same principles to all types of filter.
| |
| | |
| | |
| ===Types of filter===
| |
| | |
| There are two main types of filter, accept or reject. You can use
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| either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference
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| and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of
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| reject filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each
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| filter has 10 lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a
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| line matches then the action you have specified is taken (ie reject
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| means ignore it and accept means take it)
| |
| | |
| | |
| If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match
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| the filter will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use
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| an accept filter, then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted
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| and all else will be dumped. For example if you have a single line
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| accept filter ...
| |
| | |
| accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
| |
| | |
| then you will ONLY get VHF spots from or to CQ zones 14, 15 and 16.
| |
| | |
| | |
| If you set a reject filter like this ...
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| | |
| reject/spots on hf/cw
| |
| | |
| Then you will get everything EXCEPT HF CW spots. You could make this
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| single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested
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| in IOTA and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not
| |
| interested in CW, then you could say ...
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| | |
| reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
| |
| | |
| But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
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| | |
| accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
| |
| | |
| which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the
| |
| other until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix
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| them if you wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the
| |
| same line) but don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you
| |
| are doing!
| |
| | |
| You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your
| |
| own understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
| |
| | |
| reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
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| reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
| |
| | |
| What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots
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| on VHF which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe.
| |
| | |
| This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this
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| case), if you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits
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| '0'-'9' are available. This make it easier to see just what filters
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| you have set. It also makes it more simple to remove individual
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| filters, during a contest for example.
| |
| | |
| You will notice in the above example that the second line has
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| brackets. Look at the line logically. You can see there are 2
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| separate sections to it. We are saying reject spots that are VHF or
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| above APART from those in zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or
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| originated there). If you did not have the brackets to separate the 2
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| sections, then Spider would read it logically from the front and see a
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| different expression entirely ...
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| | |
| (on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
| |
| | |
| The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets.
| |
| Whilst we are here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the
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| same as 'and by_zone'.
| |
| | |
| As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible
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| than simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that
| |
| if you want to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one
| |
| or more lines of it or one line. For example ...
| |
| | |
| reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
| |
| | |
| would redefine our earlier example, or
| |
| | |
| clear/spots 1
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| | |
| To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
| |
| | |
| clear/spots all | |
| | |
| ===Filter options===
| |
| | |
| You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in
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| the various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
| |
| | |
| ===Advanced filtering===
| |
| | |
| Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to
| |
| experiment.
| |
| | |
| The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf
| |
| spots from EU can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
| |
| | |
| rej/spot on hf/cw
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| acc/spot on 0/30000
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| acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
| |
| | |
| Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This
| |
| will automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have
| |
| said reject all HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept all others at HF. Also accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or by operators in the zones 14, 15 and 16. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot.
| |
| | |
| It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match,
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| the default for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for
| |
| 'accept'. In the example what happens is that the reject is executed
| |
| first, any non hf/cw spot is passed to the accept line, which lets
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| through everything else on HF. The next filter line lets through just
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| VHF/UHF spots from EU.
| |
| | |
| ===A Filtering Tutorial===
| |
| | |
| There is now an excellent primer/tutorial on filtering written by Jim
| |
| Samuels, W3BG with an introduction by Dave Hawes N3RD that I strongly
| |
| suggest you read. You can read it here The DXSpider User Filtering
| |
| Primer
| |
Hints, tips and common questions
Q. These commands seem very long! Can I shorten them?
Of course you can and the usual abbreviations work. If you are
unsure, try it.
Q. I am not sure if this command is correct. Can I cause any harm if I try it?
Do not be afraid to try a command to see if it will work, at the
worst you will get an error message. If you require any help on a
command, just type help followed by the command you want help on.
Look at the "DXSpider Command Reference" section to see what help can
be found.
Q. How should I use the announce command?
With respect. Use the command by all means, but please only use the
"full" extension if absolutely necessary. It can create a LOT of
messages passing between clusters.
Q. I like to be working in the shack while logged into the cluster but I can't be looking at the screen all the time. How can I be alerted when anything happens?
Use the SET/BEEP command. You can find information on this in the
"DXSpider Command Reference" section.
Q. I got disconnected from the cluster and now I can't log back in again. What is wrong?
Probably the cluster thinks you are still logged on and will not let
you reconnect using the same call to prevent loops. Try logging on
again adding an ssid to your callsign as DXSpider treats G0YLM and
G0YLM-1 as different users.
Q. How do I know if I have got the latest version of this user manual?
The latest and greatest will always be on the Website. It will also
be included with every release of DXSpider. As always, if unsure, ask
your sysop what version number is the latest.