SPREJEMANJE SKIMMER SPOTOV IZ RBN OMREŽJA NA S50CLX DXSPIDER CLUSTRU IN PRIMER FILTRIRANJA SPOTOV
To connect to the cluster you need to telnet to s50clx.infrax.si:41112
*****************************************************
* Welcome to Radio Club CERKNO - S50E PacketCluster *
* https://s50clx.infrax.si *
* We appreciate the support of S50CLX major donor *
* INFRAX d.o.o. company https://www.infrax.si *
* *
****** Skimmer (RBN) spots are also available! ******
* *
* Type: HELP RBN and HELP SET/SKIMMER for a full *
* set of instructions on how to use new feature *
* *
* Usage: *
* SET/SKIMMER : Enabling for ALL MODES *
* SET/SKIMMER CW : Enabling for CW only *
* SET/SKIMMER RTTY PSK : Enabling for RTTY, PSK/FSK *
* SET/SKIMMER FT : Enabling for FT4/8 only *
* UNSET/SKIMMER : Disabling for ALL MODES *
* SET/SEEME : Turn on RBN spots for own call *
*****************************************************
Zadnja verzija DXSpider cluster programa ki je že na S50CLX prinaša tudi Dirkovo implementacijo RBN spotov. Alogaritem Q = kvaliteta spota je Dirkovo delo in po tednu testiranj smo mnenja, da je našel zelo dobro rešitev, kratka razlaga spodaj. Dirkov, G1TLH pogled na RBN omrežje, spote:
– RBN ima vrsto težav zraven velike količine podatkov ki jih pošilja
– spotirani znaki, zlasti na CW niso zanesljivo dekodirani
– spotirana frekvenca je nezanesljiva opaziti je tudi do 600 Hz razlike pri CW spotih
– sam spot nosi preveč neuporabnih informacij
– oblika informacije v “komentarju” spota ni prilagojena sploh, če nekdo uporablja vse RBN spote FTx, CW, PSK, RTTY …
Razlaga Dirk-ovega alogaritem obdelovanja RBN spotov na DXSpider cluster programu.
Normalizira frekvenco in v predpomnilnik zapiše devet (9) kopij spota različnih skimmer postaj. Za to je potrebno nekaj (nastavljivih) sekund, da klient zbere razumno število kopij spota. Ko klient zbere dovolj kopij spota in je prepričan, da je pozivni znak sprejet pri več kot eni skimmer postaji in se odštevalnik časa ugasne, pošlje spot do uporabnika. S to rutino je Dirk uspešno zmanjšal število spotov pri CW za faktor 10 in za faktor 8 pri FTx spotih.
RBN spot v novi verziji DXSpider programa izgleda takole:
DX de F8DGY-#: 7018.3 RW1M CW 23dB Q:9* Z:20 16 2259Z 14
Vsi RBN spoti so poslani izključno lokalnim uporabnikom in ne morejo pobegniti v cluster omrežje. Trenutno se RBN spoti ne shranjujejo nikamor to se sicer lahko spremeni vendar odločitev še ni dorečena. Če bi se za shranjevanje odločili bi bilo potrebno dodelati ukaz SH/DX.
V izogib zmešanjavi spotov format RBN spotov ni enak običajnim cluster (human) spotom.
Vsak spot poslan uporabniku ima oznako Q = “Kvaliteta” v tem primeru Q:9*. “9” pomeni da je bilo sprejeto 9 kopij tega spota od različnih skimmerjev in v tem primeru frekvenca ni bila enaka (7018,2 – 7018,4) kar je označeno z zvezdico “*”. Frekvenca ki je spotirana, poslana uporabniku je pogostost frekvence večine skimmer postaj. Če je ta postaja že nekaj časa aktivna in še vedno kliče CQ (možnost nastavitve, trenutno 60 minut) ji je v spotu dodeljen znak “+”.
Če je dodan marker “Kvaliteta” Q:1 pri CW pomeni, da je samo ena skimmer postaja sprejela takšen pozivni znak torej obstaja možnost, da bi bil spot lahko napačen.
DX de DJ9IE-#: 14034.9 UN7BBD CW 4dB Q:5*+ 17 1444Z 14
DX de OL7M-#: 14037.9 UA6LQ CW 13dB Q:7 16 1448Z 15
DX de LZ3CB-#: 28050.2 DL4HRM CW 7dB Q:1 14 1448Z 20
Preverja se vsak spotirani pozivni znak s standardno DXSpider is_callsign rutino katera preverja veljaven format pozivnega znaka. Skozi Prefix::search rutino se preverja še ali prefix dejansko obstaja. Če kateri od teh pogojev ne ustreza se spot ignorira. V spotu se izreže oznaki WPM in CQ kateri nista zelo pomembni.
Če je v spotu dodeljen Z:nn[,nn…] potem je ta postaja slišana tudi pri skimmerjih v drugih ZONE. Glede na prostor ki je na voljo v polju “komentar” spota se lahko dodaja več ZONE kjer je bila postaja slišana.
DX de LZ4UX-#: 14015.5 ON7TQ CW 6dB Q:9 Z:5,14,15,40 14 0646Z 20
DX de VE7CC-#: 3573.0 N8ADO FT8 -14dB Q:4 Z:4,5 4 0647Z 3
DX de DM7EE-#: 14027.5 R1AC CW 9dB Q:9* Z:5,15,17,20 16 0643Z 14
DX de WE9V-#: 7074.0 EA7ALL FT8 -9dB Q:2+ Z:5 14 0641Z 4
Pozivni znak skimmer postaje se skrajša na 6 znakov.
Če ni postavljenih filtrov bo prikazan spot z najnižjo jakostjo signala. To pomeni, če so prikazane dodatne ZONE kjer je bila postaja sprejeta bo signal v teh ZONE višji.
Ukaz za vklop recimo CW skimmer spotov na S50CLX (DXSpider) je: SET/SKIMMER CW za izklop RBN spotov prožimo ukaz UNSET/SKIMMER. Pri RBN spotih je možno vklopiti 5 MODE in sicer CW BEACON PSK RTTY FT
Zase sem postavil filter tako, da sprejemam CLUSTER (human) spote samo na HF področju, spot pa je poslan iz ZONE 15. Za RBN sem si nastavil filter naj mi posreduje vse kar je večje od markerja Q:1 saj želim minimalizirat napačno skimmane postaje s samo enim pozivnim znakom kar bi bil lahko “busted” znak. Oba filtra sem prožil z ukazoma:
acc/spot 1 freq hf and by_zone 15
acc/rbn 1 by_zone 15 and info {q:[2-9]}
Ukaz SH/FILTER mi tako pokaže:
S50U : spots
filter1 accept freq hf and by_zone 15
S50U : rbn
filter1 accept by_zone 15 and info {713a5b322d395d}
Ukaz: HELP RBN
RBN The Reverse Beacon or Skimmer System DXSpider now has the ability to show spots from the Reverse Beacon Network or “Skimmers”, if your sysop has enabled the feed(s) (and has the bandwidth to both receive the feeds and also to pass them on to you. Currently there are two RBN/Skimmer feeds available which, at busy times can send up to 50,000 spots/hour EACH. Somewhere in the low 1000s is more normal. Clearly this is not much use to the average user and so DXSpider “curates” them by removing duplicates and checking for invalid callsigns or prefixes, as well as using some algorithms to fix the rather variable frequencies that some skimmers produce (particularly for CW spots). This means that the format of the spot that you see is completely different to the spots that the RBN feeds supply and, as a result of the “curation” reduces the volume of spots to you by between 8 and 11 times.
See SET/SKIMMER (or SET/WANTRBN) for more information on enabling RBN/Skimmer spots and also on selecting particular categories (e.g CW or FT8/FT4) – which has the side benefit of reducing the volume of spots that you receive even more! Here are some examples of the output:
DX de LZ4UX-#: 14015.5 ON7TQ CW 6dB Q:9 Z:5,14,15,40 14 0646Z 20
DX de VE7CC-#: 3573.0 N8ADO FT8 -14dB Q:4 Z:4,5 4 0647Z 3
DX de DM7EE-#: 14027.5 R1AC CW 9dB Q:9* Z:5,15,17,20 16 0643Z 14
DX de WE9V-#: 7074.0 EA7ALL FT8 -9dB Q:2+ Z:5 14 0641Z 4
Note that UNSET/DXGRID, UNSET/DXITU and SET/DXCQ are in operation in these examples. This is completely optional.
The comment field has been completely changed in order provide as much information, in as smaller space, as possible. All the irrelevant information has been removed.
You can use the Category (CW and FT8 in these examples) to with SET/SKIMMER (or SET/WANTRBN) to, rather coarsely, select which spots you require. You can refine this further by the use of Filtering. See SET/SKIMMER or SET/WANTRBN for more information. But the short answer is that these are spots and are filtered like any other spot, unless you want to filter these spots differently, in which case you can use REJECT/RBN and ACCEPT/RBN in exactly the same way as ACCEPT/SPOT and REJECT/SPOT. If you don’t use RBN filters then these spots will be filter by any spot filters that you may have.
The next field (6dB, -14dB etc) is the LOWEST reported signal that was heard.
The Q: field is the number of skimmers that heard this spot (up to 9 shown, but it could easily be many more). If Q: is > 1 (especially on CW) then you can be reasonably certain that the callsign is accurate, especially on CW. ‘Q’ stands for “Qualitee” 🙂
If there is a ‘*’, it means that there was a disagreement about frequency. In fact, particularly for CW spots, I have see disagreements of 600Hz. Which is a worry. The frequency that is shown is the majority view of all the skimmers spotting this call. You may have to fossick about the airwaves to find the actual frequency 🙂
There are stations that are permanently on, like Beacons, and also others that have long sessions on the same frequency and do a lot of CQing. If they have been on for a certain length of time and they reappear before their cache entry expires (about 2 hours), then they are respotted. This is indicated by the ‘+’. NOTE – if they change frequency, this will generate new spots. Each callsign/frequency pair could respotted separately for as long as any individual
callsign/frequency pair remain in the cache.
The Z: field is present then that indicates the other CQ zones that heard this spot – not including the skimmer that is shown. I show as many as there are in whatever space is left in the comment field. Note: if you have any of the optional flags around the time then they may overwrite part of this field.
If there is NO filter in operation, then the skimmer spot with the LOWEST signal strength will be shown. This implies that if any extra Z: zones are shown, then the signal will be higher in those zones.
If you have a filter (for instance: ACCEPT/SPOT by_zone 14 and not zone 14 or zone 14 and not by_zone 14) where ’14’ is your QTH CQ zone. You will, instead be served with the lowest signal strength spot that satisfies that filter. Incidentally, this particular style of filter is quite useful for RBN spots, as it reduces the volume and is likely to be more relevant for casual use. If this filter is too broad (or narrow) for your normal spotting requirements, then you can use ACCEPT/RBN with the same filter specification and it will only apply to RBN spots. You can also replace ’14’ with a list like ‘14,15’ if you want to broaden it out. You will still get the same Z: list (if any) whether you filter or not.
Ukaz: HELP SET/SKIMMER
SET/SKIMMER [category ..]
SET/SKIMMER <call> [category ..]
This command allows curated Reverse Beacon Spots to come out on your terminal (or not).
If you want everything just type: set/wantrbn or set/skimmer
Either command will do.
If you want it all to just stop type: unset/skimmer (or unset/wantrbn) or set/skimmer none
There five categories (or modes) of RBN/Skimmer spot available and one can limit the spots to one or more of these categories/modes:
CW BEACON PSK RTTY FT
together with a load of synonyms
BEACON BCN DXF
PSK FSK MSK
FT FT8 FT4
if you use
set/skimmer psk ft8
you will get psk, fsk, msk, ft4 and ft8 spots. if you want to break that down, then you will need to set filters accordingly – but your filter will only be offered spots from the categories that you have selected. If you get into a muddle with this you can simply reset ‘all on’ with SET/SKIMMER or ‘all off’ with UNSET/SKIMMER.
By default any filters that you have for “manual” spots will be automatically applied to your RBN/Skimmer feed. However it is possible to filter RBN/Skimmer spots differently by use ACCEPT/RBN and/or REJECT/RBN filters.
The RBN filters completely override any spot filters for these spots. But the spot filters will continue to filter “manual” spots as before.
NOTE: Filters and this command CAN interact with each other. If you don’t get the results that you expect, check your filters with SHOW/FILTER.
Please see HELP RBN for an explanation of the spot format. It is NOT the same as one would get directly from the RBN/Skimmers. But it is recommended that you SET/DXCQ and UNSET/DXITU and UNSET/DXGRID (unless latter in more important to you with, for example, FT4/8 spots).