RXCLUS 5.0 - USER DOCUMENTATION (december 1993) *** 1. INTRODUCTION *** 1.0. PURPOSE This program RXCLUS is used to receive informations transmitted on the PacketCluster system without having to establish a connection to a cluster node. It identifies the frames sent to cluster users, and also those exchanged between two cluster nodes with a special protocol. This possibility is especially interesting during the night time as it allows you to receive cluster informations with no connection even if no user is connected on the local cluster node ! DX, WWV and ANN informations are recognised among all the frames heard on the monitored frequency and are the only ones to be displayed. Of course, each information is displayed only once, even if it is repeated many times on the frequency because several users are connected. So you get the same result as if you would be connected to the cluster, but without additional traffic on the air and with no link failures problems. It is not a problem if the monitored frequency is shared with other packet services (Mailbox, and so on). There is of course a limitation: if you are not connected to the cluster, you cannot send informations requests ! But RXCLUS can attenuate strongly this problem: DX et WWV informations can be stored in databases on disk and you can recall them using different search criterias. Furthermore, a world countries database allows the program to give many informations and make some calculations like a cluster node: prefix allocation, WAZ and ITU zones of a country, azimut and distance, local time. Maybe you guessed that RXCLUS was first developed for the DX oriented SWL's. But it proved to be very useful also for a licensed OM if he doesn't need all the features of the PacketCluster system continuously. For example, RXCLUS can be runned during the work periods. When you are back home, you can find in your own PC all the informations which were transmitted during the day. In case of a poor link to the cluster, it allows receiving most informations without having to reconnect all the time. 1.1. RECENT IMPROVEMENTS : V4.0 : new search criteria in the DX database: in the comment field and by logger, choice of the bands you wish to receive the DX spots on, support added for 23 cm spots, more versatile structure of the configuration file, screen saver. V5.0 : multilanguage support (english, french and german provided, translation in other languages by the user is possible), world countries database. *** 2. INSTALLATION *** 2.1. HARDWARE REQUISITS. - An IBM compatible computer (PC/XT/AT), monochrome or color. A harddisk is strongly recommended if you wish to store the informations. - A TNC on the serial port of the PC. This TNC must make itself the frames assembly/desassembly (TNC-2, PK-88, PK-232, KAM, and so on). Internal cards (for example DRSI) or modems requesting a specific driver (like BayCom) are not supported. - A receiver able to receive a frequency used for cluster traffic (to users or between two cluster nodes). 2.2. COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS. You can continue to use the databases of the version 4 (DXINFO.DAT and WWVINFO.DAT files), but those of older versions are no more usable as their format is different. The configuration file RXCLUS.CFG has a new format. If you have one from any older version, you shoud rename it and keep it to help you customizing the new version. 2.3. INSTALLATION. Just copy the self-extracting archive RXCLU50.EXE in the wanted directory and execute it. You will get the following files: RXCLUS50.EXE program file RXCLUS.CFG configuration file RXC50ENG.TXT the explanations file in english RXCLUS50.TXT the explanations file in french MESSAGES.TXT texts in the current language (defaults to english) MESSAGES.FRA texts in french MESSAGES.ENG texts in english MESSAGES.DEU texts in german COUNTRY.DAT world countries database DXINFO.DAT DX database WWVINFO.DAT WWV database 2.4. MULTILANGUAGE SUPPORT. RXCLUS V 5.0 can use (almost) any language. Three language files are provided. All have MESSAGES as name and an extension identifying the language (FRA=french, ENG=english, DEU=german). A language is chosen by copying (or renaming, but that's a bit dangerous !) the wanted language file as MESSAGES.TXT. For example, to choose german you have to type: COPY MESSAGES.DEU MESSAGES.TXT You can edit those text files to slightly modify the sentences or to translate them. But you have to be very careful : if you suppress or add any line, the program will not start or will not work properly. Before any modification you should make a backup copy of the original file ! The author would be pleased to receive text files translated in other languages, so they could be included with later versions. 2.5. PARAMETER SETTING AND CUSTOMIZATION. With its new format, the file RXCLUS.CFG contains command lines and comment lines which make this file self-explaining. The allowed values are mentioned for each parameter. Almost all you may wish to change in RXCLUS can be customized in this file (communication parameters but also colors, bands to receive,...). The following rules are used in this file : - Comment lines (which must start with a "#") and blank lines are ignored by the program. - Command lines must always state a parameter name, an "=" and the value assigned to this parameter. - Comments are not allowed at any place in the command lines. - The sequence in which the commands appear in the file is not important. To test the program as simply as possible, you don't need to modify this file IF your TNC is connected to COM 1 at 9600 Bd. You can customize the program later if you like it and would like to use it. 2.6. TNC SETTINGS : Most TNC settings are not critical with the following exceptions : - MONITOR must be ON (VERY important !) - If lines are displayed on the top of each other in Monitor mode, set AUTOLF to ON. - If you use MFILTER to reject some ASCII codes, be sure that Ctrl-G (ASCII 7) is NOT in the reject list. *** 3. USING RXCLUS *** 3.1 RECEIVE MODE : This is the default mode when you start the program. In this mode, RXCLUS displays the DX, WWV and ANN (according to the choices you made in RXCLUS.CFG) transmitted on the monitored frequency. DX and WWV informations are written to the databases if this function was activated in the configuration file. Available functions are : F1 : displays a short form of the commands (help). F2 : displays the DX spots database (DXINFO.DAT file). F3 : displays the WWV database (WWVINFO.DAT file). F4 : searches in the DX database for a DX call or a portion of a DX call. You'll be prompted for a string to search for. This string is searched for at the beginning of the calls, unless you added "*" as first or last character (like *HB or HB*); in this case, the string will be searched for at any place in the callsigns. F5 : DX search by band. You'll be prompted for the band (in MHz). For the bands which are more then 1 MHz wide (10, 6, 2 m and 70 cm), each MHz segment is considered as a separate band. For example, "145" means 145.000 to 145.999 MHz, which allows to separate the satellite DX spots from the tropo ones. F6 : Search in the comment fields of the DX spots. You'll be prompted for the string to search for (for example: QSL, IOTA, AO-13,...). F7 : Search in the logger field of the DX spots (full call or part of a call). F9 : DOS-Shell. If the screen saver was activated, it is disabled until you come back to RXCLUS by typing "EXIT" at the DOS prompt. F10 : Display informations about a country. You'll be prompted for a prefix, then the programm displays the prefix allocation, ITU and WAZ zones, latitude/longitude and calculates the distance, azimut and local time in this country (summer times are not taken into account). Up : Switches to Review mode and displays the more recent received informations. PgUp : Switches to Review mode and scrolls one page up. Home : Switches to Review mode and displays the first informations received during the current session. Alt-G : Toggles the sounds on/off. Sounds can be used for example when informations are received, or to confirm changes to a database. Alt-M : Switches to Monitor mode. Alt-P : Toggles the printer on/off (printer must be connected to LPT1) Alt-X : Quit the program. All those functions can also be called with the mouse by clicking left on the function's name or abbreviation on the top or bottom line. Clicking right has almost the same effect as using the "Esc" key. 3.2. REVIEW MODE : In this mode, you can scroll back to see all informations received since you started the program. Those informations (maximum 400) are kept in RAM so they can be accessed very quickly and are available even if the writing to disk is not activated. You can scroll up or down as usual with the Up, Down, PageUp, PageDn and Home keys, or by clicking left on the corresponding words or symbols on the bottom line. This mode is left by pressing the Esc or End keys, by clicking left on FIN:ESC or by clicking right at any place. 3.3. DATABASE MAINTENANCE MODE (DX or WWV) : When you enter this mode (with F2 or F3), the most recent 23 informations in the database are displayed, one of them being displayed in inverted video. This is the selected information, that means the one on which a command issued at this time would apply. You can scroll up or down as usual with the Up, Down, PageUp, PageDn, Home and End keys, or by clicking left on the corresponding symbols on the bottom line. You may also select directly an information by clicking on its line. Following maintenance functions are available : F2 : EDIT : used to edit the selected information, usually to correct a mistake, and writes the changes to the disk (asks for a confirmation). F3 : MARK : marks the selected information for deletion. This mark can be removed by using the same command a second time. F4 : PURGE : erases all records having a deletion mark (asks for a confirmation). A backup copy of the original database is created, with .BAK as extension. F5 : TRIM : trunks the database (asks for a confirmation). All records older then the selected information are erased. A backup copy of the original database is created, with .BAK as extension. Those four functions may be accessed using the mouse, by clicking left on their names. During the EDIT procedure however, the use of the keyboard is required. This mode is left by pressing the Esc key, by clicking left on FIN:ESC or by clicking right at any place. 3.4. MONITOR MODE : In this mode you are connected directly to the TNC, without any filtering, so you see all what is received on the frequency. However, cluster information which could come at this time are processed normally. This mode was implemented to allow checking the serial link to the TNC or changing TNC parameters without having to use another program first, but no facilities like scroll buffer or sending/receiving files are offered. RXCLUS is a specialised program which handles cluster informations; its goal is not to be one more general purpose terminal program (there are already quite many!). This mode is left by pressing the Esc key, by clicking left on "R" (short for Receive) or by clicking right at any place. *** 4. IN CASE OF TROUBLE *** 4.1. PROBLEMS AT PROGRAM START. 4.1.1. Message : "Configuration file RXCLUS.CFG not found... program aborted". Check that the file RXCLUS.CFG is in the same directory as the program file. 4.1.2. Message : "Configuration file MESSAGES.TXT not found... program aborted". Check that the file MESSAGES.TXT in the same directory as the program file. If this file is missing, copy the file MESSAGES.ENG (or any other language file) in MESSAGES.TXT (see chapter 2.4). 4.1.3 Message : "Missing line(s) in MESSAGES.TXT, cannot run RXCLUS". The language file MESSAGES.TXT is not complete. Perhaps you made a mistake while editing this file, or it was damaged by any other way. Copy the file MESSAGES.ENG (or any other language file) in MESSAGES.TXT (see chapter 2.4). 4.1.4 Message: "COM x not found". The COM port specified in RXCLUS.CFG does not exist on your computer. Change the "PORT =" statement in your RXCLUS.CFG to specify an existing port. 4.1.5 Message starting with: "*** RXCLUS.CFG :...". The value you specified for the parameter mentioned at the end of this message is not allowed. Correct the line setting this parameter in RXCLUS.CFG. 4.2. RECEIVE PROBLEMS. 4.2.1 No information comes in Receive mode, but all is normal in Monitor mode. - no cluster traffic on the monitored frequency - the TNC parameter MFILTER is set to filter out the Ctrl-G (ASCII code) 4.2.2. Communication with the TNC is normal (in Monitor mode) but no traffic at all is displayed Set the TNC parameter MONITOR to ON. 4.2.3. No communication at all with the TNC. - Incorrect parameters for the serial communication in RXCLUS.CFG. Check the settings for PORT, SPEED, PARITY, STOPBITS, DATABITS and HANDSHAKE. - You TNC is not supported by RXCLUS (BayCom, DRSI,...), see. chapter 2.1. 4.2.4. In Monitor mode, all lines are displayed over each other. Set the TNC parameter AUTOLF to ON. 4.3. DATABASE PROBLEMS. 4.3.1. Unexpected message "database empty". - you didn't start RXCLUS from the directory where the databases are located (the DOS PATH has no effect for the data files !). - you did erase or rename erroneously the database. *** 5. UTILISATION RIGHTS *** This software belongs to the "Freeware" category. It may be used at no charge and copies may be made as long as the copies are complete, with all files and documentation, and the mention of the author is not removed nor modified. The author is not seeking a financial profit with RXCLUS. However, the users in the region of Geneva are encouraged to become members of the IAPC (International Amateur Packet Club, P.O. Box 2435, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland), which established the DX-Cluster HB9IAC-8 and its access digipeaters. Proposals for improvements of this program and translations of the text file in other languages are always welcome ! Wishing you good reception of the DX spots and, for the licensed OMs, don't loose the good habit connecting from time to time to your prefered cluster node ! Robert CHALMAS, HB9BZA P.O.Box 1225 1227 Carouge/GE SWITZERLAND MYBBS: HB9IAP Sysop DX-Cluster HB9IAC-8