Filters  AR-Cluster User Manual

Many of the AR-Clusters nodes connect into the AR-Cluster Internet backbone which yields a huge selection of local, continental and worldwide DX spots.  During contest periods we sometimes run over 40,000 DX spots in a 48-hour period.  Station spot filtering preferences range from “I only want to see spots within a few surrounding states”, to “I want so see spots from a large area such as North America”, to “give me anything spotted in the world”.  You can use the built-in filtering to limit the spots to your desired area of coverage even down to the state-by-state level. 

 

DX spots can be filtered by the originating stations location, by the country of the spot and by the band and mode of the spot.  Filters can also be applied for Announcements and weather.

 

The following commands can be used to reset all user filters.  Both commands are equivalent.  If you suspect you have entered a invalid filter command, reset your filters.

set/nofilter

 

The following commands can be used to display all of your user filters.  Both commands are equivalent.

show/filter

 

The following commands can be used as a shortcut to quickly set the DX, Announcement and WX origination filters to the same value.  This should make it easier for the casual user as he generally wants to set all filters to see US or US and VE DX, announcements and weather spots.  The command turns off the DX CTY, BandMode, KeyWord and state level filters.  To just see DX, ANN and WX from US stations:

set/filter K/pass

 

To just see DX, ANN and WX from US and VE stations:

set/filter K,VE/pass

 

DX Spot Origination Filter

The most popular filter used is the DX spot origination filter, filters DX spots based on the country and state (or Canadian province) of the spotter.  This filter allows the user to control the area of spot coverage presented to him.  Stations with limited antennas may only want to see spots originating from a few states away.   Stations with better antenna configurations might want to see spots from all across a wide region such as North America.  The “big-gun” multi stations with plenty of extra operators to tune the bands may want to turn off all filters and receive spots from stations around the world.  The spot origination is usually placed in the PASS mode to only pass spots from a certain areas.  It can also be operated in the REJECT mode where it rejects spots from selected areas.  The country locations are specified by the abbreviation in the ARRL.CTY country list file.  The states and provinces are standard postal abbreviations.  The best way to demonstrate the various options of the DX spot origination filters is by example.   Note, if you use a state filter, you also have to activate the country filter for the state.

 

The commands to receive spots originating in the USA, Mexico and Canada are:

set/filter dxorigcty/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter dxorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter doc/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter dos/off

 

The commands to receive DX spots originating in the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas are:

set/filter dxorigcty/pass k

set/filter dxorigstate/pass tx,ok,ar

                 or

set/filter doc/pass k

set/filter dos/pass tx,ok,ar

 

The commands to receive DX spots originating in the US 4th and 5th call areas are:

set/filter dxorigcty/pass k

set/filter dxorigstate/pass k4,k5

                 or

set/filter doc/pass k

set/filter dos/pass k4,k5

 

The commands to receive US DX spots except for California and the US 7th call area are:

set/filter dxorigcty/pass k

set/filter dxorigstate/reject k6,k7

                 or

set/filter doc/pass k

set/filter dos/reject k6,k7

 

The commands to receive DX spots originating anywhere in the world are:

set/filter dxorigcty/off

set/filter dxorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter doc/off

set/filter dos/off

 

You can examine your current DX spot origination filters with the following commands:

show/filter dxorigcty or show/filter doc

show/filter dxorigstate or show/filter dos

 

You can use the SHOW/DX NOFILTER command to display non filtered spots when you have active filters:

show/dx nofilter

 

Announce Spot Origination Filter

The  announce spot origination filter, filters announcement spots based on the country and state (or Canadian province) of the spotter.  This filter allows the user to control the area of spot coverage presented to him.  The spot origination is usually placed in the PASS mode to only pass spots from a certain areas.  It can also be operated in the REJECT mode where it rejects spots from selected areas.  The country locations are specified by the abbreviation in the ARRL.CTY country list file.  The states and provinces are standard postal abbreviations.  The best way to demonstrate the various options of the announcement spot origination filters is by example.   If you use a state filter, you also have to activate the country filter for the state.

 

The commands to receive announcement spots originating in the USA, Mexico and Canada are:

set/filter annorigcty/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter annorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter aoc/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter aos/off

 

The commands to receive announcement spots originating in the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas are:

set/filter annorigcty/pass k

set/filter annorigstate/pass tx,ok,ar

                 or

set/filter aoc/pass k

set/filter aos/pass tx,ok,ar

 

The commands to receive announcement spots originating in the US 4th and 5th call areas are:

set/filter annorigcty/pass k

set/filter annorigstate/pass k4,k5

                 or

set/filter aoc/pass k

set/filter aos/pass k4,k5

 

The commands to receive US announcement spots except for California and the US 7th call area are:

set/filter annorigcty/pass k

set/filter annorigstate/reject k6,k7

                 or

set/filter aoc/pass k

set/filter aos/reject k6,k7

 

The commands to receive announcement spots originating anywhere in the world are:

set/filter annorigcty/off

set/filter annorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter aoc/off

set/filter aos/off

 

You can examine your current announcement spot origination filters with the following command:

show/filter annorigcty or show/filter aoc

show/filter annorigstate or show/filter aos

 

Wx Spot Origination Filter

The WX spot origination filter, filters announcement spots based on the country and state (or Canadian province) of the spotter.  This filter allows the user to control the area of spot coverage presented to him.  The spot origination is usually placed in the PASS mode to only pass spots from a certain areas.  It can also be operated in the REJECT mode where it rejects spots from selected areas.  The country locations are specified by the abbreviation in the ARRL.CTY country list file.  The states and provinces are standard postal abbreviations.  The best way to demonstrate the various options of the announcement spot origination filters is by example.   If you use a state filter, you also have to activate the country filter for the state.

 

The commands to receive WX spots originating in the USA, Mexico and Canada are:

set/filter wxorigcty/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter wxorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter woc/pass k,xe,ve

set/filter wos/off

 

The commands to receive WX spots originating in the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas are:

set/filter wxorigcty/pass k

set/filter wxorigstate/pass tx,ok,ar

                 or

set/filter woc/pass k

set/filter wos/pass tx,ok,ar

 

The commands to receive WX spots originating in the US 4th and 5th call areas are:

set/filter wxorigcty/pass k

set/filter wxorigstate/pass k4,k5

                 or

set/filter woc/pass k

set/filter wos/pass k4,k5

 

The commands to receive US WX spots except for California and the US 7th call area are:

set/filter wxorigcty/pass k

set/filter wxorigstate/reject k6,k7

                 or

set/filter woc/pass k

set/filter wos/reject k6,k7

 

The commands to receive WX spots originating anywhere in the world are:

set/filter wxorigcty/off

set/filter wxorigstate/off

                 or

set/filter woc/off

set/filter wos/off

 

You can examine your current WX spot origination filters with the following command:

show/filter wxorigcty or show/filter woc

show/filter wxorigstate or show/filter wos

 

DX Spot Band-Mode Filter

DX Spot Band-Mode filters allow for the filtering of DX spots by the band and mode of operation.  Valid bands are 160, 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, 6, 2, 1, 70 VHF, UHF, and MW (microwave).  Valid modes are CW, RTTY and SSB.  The Band-Mode filter is a commonly used as HFers may want to reject spots above 30 MHz and UHF/VHFers may want to reject spots below 30 MHz.   The spot DX Band-Mode filter can be placed in the PASS mode to pass spots from a certain areas or in the REJECT mode where it rejects spots from selected areas.  The user should be aware that the mode of operation is determined by the frequency of the spot and that during contests stations tend to spread out beyond what is normally accepted frequency range for their operating mode.  For example if a CW station is operating in the RTTY part of the band, his mode will be flagged as RTTY.  The best way to demonstrate the various options of the spot DX band-mode filter is by example.

 

The command to receive only 20 meter spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/pass 20-cw,20-rtty,20-ssb

                         or

set/filter dxbm/pass 20-cw,20-rtty,20-ssb

 

The command to receive only 20 meter and 40 meter CW spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/pass 20-cw,40-cw

                         or

set/filter dxbm/pass 20-cw,40-cw

 

The command to receive only HF spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/reject vhf,uhf,mw

                         or

set/filter dxbm/reject vhf,uhf,mw

 

The command to receive only VHF, UHF and microwave spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/pass vhf,uhf,mw

                         or

set/filter dxbm/pass vhf,uhf,mw

 

The command to receive only 6-Meter spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/pass 6-CW,6-SSB,6-FM

                         or

set/filter dxbm/pass 6-CW,6-SSB,6-FM

 

The command to receive only 30-Meter spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/pass 30-CW,30-RTTY

                         or

set/filter dxbm/pass 30-CW,30-RTTY

 

The command to receive only VHF, UHF and microwave spots is:

set/filter dxbandmode/reject vhf,uhf,mw

                         or

set/filter dxbm/reject vhf,uhf,mw

         

The command to turn off band-mode filtering is:

set/filter dxbandmode/off

                         or

set/filter dxbm/off

 

The command to examine your current band-mode filtering is:

show/filter dxbandmode

               or

show/filter dxbm

 

Special commands can be applied to set up DX band mode filters for contesting which reject all spots except on the contest bands of 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.  Examples:

set/filter hf/cw

set/filter hf/ssb

set/filter hf/rtty

set/filter hf/off

 

DX Spot CTY Filter

The spot CTY filter allows DX spots to be filtered by the county of the spot.  The country is determined based on the ARRL.CTY files.   The DX spot CTY filter can be placed in the PASS mode to pass spots from designated countries or in the REJECT mode to reject spots from designated countries.  The best way to demonstrate the various options of the spot CTY filter is by example. 

 

The command to show all DX spots except for those in the USA would be:

set/filter dxcty/reject k

 

The command to show all DX spots except for those in US, Mexico and Canada would be:

set/filter dxcty/reject k,xe,ve

 

The command to show only DX spots from the US, Mexico and Canada would be:

set/filter dxcty/pass k,xe,ve

 

The command to turn off all DX CTY filters is:

set/filter dxcty/off

 

The command to display the current settings of the DX CTY filter is:

show/filter dxcty

 

DX Spot Keyword Reject Filter

The DX Spot Keyword Reject Filter allows the user to specify a list of keywords, which if contained in the DX spot call field, will cause the spot to be rejected. 

set/filter dxkeyword/reject /bust               (reject spots with /bust in the callsign)

set/filter dxkw/reject /bust                         (reject spots with /bust in the callsign)

set/filter dxkeyword/reject /bust,video    (reject spots with /bust or video in the callsign)

set/filter dxkw/reject /bust,video              (reject spots with /bust or video in the callsign)

set/filter dxkeyword/off                                 (turn the keyword reject filter off)

set/filter dxkw/off                                           (turn the keyword reject filter off)

show/filter dxkeyword                                     (show the keyword reject filter)

show/filter dxkw                                               (show the keyword reject filter)

                                   

DX Needs Database and Filters

AR-Cluster includes a DX Needs database which can be used to track the needs DX country needs of node users. Spot filtering can also be applied to only show the DX spots based on your country needs.  The SET/FILTER NEEDS command is used to set your needs.  User needs can be set on each of the three operating modes of CW, SSB and RTTY.  If the first character in the filter command is a “+”, the data is appended into the needs list, if the first character in the filter is a “-“ data is removed from the list, otherwise the existing list is overwritten.  Needs countries prefixes are based on the ARRL.CTY country list.   Examples:

set/filter dxneeds/ssb 3d2/r,3y/b,bv9p,jd/o,jd/m

set/filter dxneeds/rtty r1mv,sv5,t33,zk1/n

set/filter dxneeds/cw r1mv,sv5,t33,zk1/n

set/filter dxneeds/cw +r1fj,vp8/h,jy,zs8,vu4,vu7

set/filter dxneeds/cw -vu4

 

You can activate and deactivate the display of spots based on need with the following commands:

set/filter dxneeds/off

set/filter dxneeds/on

 

You can display your stored needs list with the command:

show/filter dxneeds

 

You can display your stored needs list with the command:

show/filter dxneeds

 

You can also query the needs database looking at the needs of other stations or a specific country prefix.  You may also specify a mode qualifier (CW, SSB, RTTY) to just show the needs for that mode.  Examples follow.

 

You can show the needs of another station with the following command:

show/ need k1ttt

show/ need/ssb k1ttt

 

You can show all stations that need the Marshall Islands with the following command:

show/ need V7*

 

Cluster Filters

AR-Cluster has other built in filters that are either automatic or configured by the sysop.  You should be aware of these filters as they may effect and their capabilities as they may effect the spots that you receive.

 

Upstream Filters – These filters reside on the ARC node that your node connects to.  These filters can be used to narrow the coverage of the node to a specific geographical area.

 

Anti-Loop Filter – Is always on and removes duplicate spots.

 

Spot Lockout Filter – Is usually activated and removes bad calls such as TEST, FR0G and etc.

 

Spot Origination Filter – Similar to the user spot origination filter but effects all users on the node.

 

Spot Age Filter – Rejects spots over xx minutes old.

 

Spot CTY Filter – Similar to the user spot CTY filter but effects all users.

 

Spot Node Filter – Pass or reject spots from designated nodes.

 

Spot Band-Time Reject Filter – Rejects spots based on band and time of day.

 

Spot Comment Filter – Rejects spots containing specific text in the comment field.

 

Internet Spot Filter – Rejects spots, which originated from the OH2AQ spot grabber.

 

Spot Close Dupe Filter – Rejects spots with the same call spotted within the last x minutes within a designated frequency spread.

 

Spot Close Dupe Filter – Does not allow a user to spot himself.