Ham Radio 2000 #2

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Text File | 1996-11-15 | 53.3 KB | 958 lines

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ClusterMaster v 4.30c by I0JX +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. GENERAL ======= IMPORTANT NOTICE: *** FOR WHAT CONCERNS PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY WITH DIFFERENT TNCs, SEE FILE C_EXPLA_TXT in PROGRAM DIRECTORY *** YOU MUST SET THE TNC PARAMETERS BE SET AS INDICATED IN PAR. 9.1 *** FURTHER DETAILS ON PROGRAM ARE GIVEN IN FILE C_EXPLA.TXT 1. GENERAL ======= ClusterMaster is a program for Windows 3.1 / Windows 95, intended to support operations with PacketCluster nodes (registered mark of Pavillion Software), by means of a normal 1200 baud "TNC Packet Radio". The main ClusterMaster features are: - pre-defined buttons allowing you to send PacketCluster commands, with no need to remember commands syntax (see sect. 9.3); - automatic transceiver setting on announced DX station frequency and mode (see sect. 9.5); - quick identification of the DXCC countries corresponding to any displayed call, and provision of relevant information, including the bands and modes in which the country has been worked and/or is confirmed and the associated call-signs (program allows to easily load and store such data). Additionally, it is possible to visualize and print a station address, deriving it from a a CD-ROM Callbook (Buckmaster HamCall or Radio Amateurs Callbook), see sect. 9.6; - to get additional information on the wanted DX station (e.g. QSL manager), by automatically searching a great number of DX bullettins, to be stored in a given hard disk directory (see sect. 9.10); - to quickly visualize the DX spots, the "talk" messages and the announcements arrived until then (see sect. 9.11); - voice announcement of incoming DX alerts (call-sign and frequency band), of messages and announcements, preceded by an alert sound for unconfirmed countries (you need an audio board, see sects. 6 and 9.2); - the possibility to automatically turn your antenna to the bearing of the DX spot country (you need a special board, see sect.6); - to operate either in the "ONE WINDOW" mode or in the "TWO WINDOWS" one. In the first case there are two windows (the "MAIN WINDOW" and the "AUXILIARY WINDOWS") allowing you to separately visualize your own traffic and the general PacketCluster monitor traffic (see sect. 9.1); - to automatically answer stations sending a talk, with a greeting message. This is useful when one is not present at the station (see sect. 9.12); - to enjoy all program features either if one operates connected to the PacketCluster (with program operating in "CONN. MODE"), or if one operates disconnected, simply monitoring the PacketCluster traffic (with program operating in "MON. MODE"), see sect. 9.2. 2. FILES ===== The following files form part of ClusterMaster 4.30c (after installation): - CLU_I0JX.EXE the main executable file (16 bit) - PHONETIC.WAV the voice file - CLUSTER.AEA sample file of parameters appropriate to generic AEA TNCs - CLUSTER.DSP sample file of parameters appropriate to the DSP-2232 - CLUSTER.TN2 sample file of parameters appropriate to TAPR TNC2 - CLUSTER.TNC a file containing the preferred parameters for your TNC. The program allows you to send the TNC this file, either upon user command or, if desired, automatically every time the communications session is started (by default CLUSTER.TNC coincides with CLUSTER.TN2), see sect. 9.1 - CLUSTER.EXI a file containing the TNC parameters which, if desired, the the program automatically delivers the TNC every time the session is closed. This file must be edited as required - CLUSTER.CFG the program configuration file - C_READ.ME this file - C_LEGGI.MI this file translated into Italian - KCTWIN.DLL the antenna tracker management file - HAMCALL.DLL the HamCall CD-ROM management file - LGACCSS1.DLL the Radio Amateurs Callbook CD-ROM management file - PREFIXES.TBL the ITU prefixes data base - DXCC.TBL the DXCC countries data base - INFO.TBL user notes - C_EXPLA.TXT additional information on program - C_SPIEG.TXT C_EXPLA.TXT translated into Italian - DXCC.DAT the file indicating bands and modes in which each country has been worked and/or confirmed - CALLSIGN.DAT the file containing the call signs for the various bands/modes - CLUSTER.CDS the file containing all PacketCluster commands not available on the pre-programmed buttons 3. DISTRIBUTION ============ This "freeware" program may be freely used, copied and distributed for amateur radio purposes, as long as the following conditions are met: (1) CLU_I0JX.EXE is distributed in its original, unmodified form; (2) The C_READ.ME and C_LEGGI.MI files are bundled to the executable files without modifications; (3) CLU_I0JX.EXE may not be sold or licensed upon a fee. Nor it can be bundled with, or transferred as part of, any software package or radio equipment which is sold or for which any licensing fee is charged. 4. WARRANTY ======== ClusterMaster has been tested on several differently equipped PCs, with video resolutions VGA (640x480) and SVGA (800x600 and 1024x768) modes, and at least 256 colors. ClusterMaster has been tested with several TNCs (TNC2, AEA PK-232, PK-88, PK-96, PK-232 and DSP-2232, Kantronics KAM). Antenna control has been tested with a Kansas City Tracker board and a Star Track CCR-2 board. ClusterMaster is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied that any specific feature will work on any particular machine or in conjunction with any TNC or radio equipment. I cannot commit myself to support this software in the future. The author as no affiliation with amateur radio equipment manufacturer / reseller or software houses. 5. DISCLAIMER ========== The author accepts no responsibility whatsoever, he not being in particular liable for any damage or loss resulting from unexpected radio equipment behaviour as a consequence of software bugs or wrong design. 6. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ===================== See file C_EXPLA.TXT. 7. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ===================== See file C_EXPLA.TXT. 8. INSTALLATION ============ Firstly create a temporary directory (e.g. TEMP), and expand the .ZIP distribution file there. Once in Windows, run the automatic installation file C:\TEMP\SETUP.EXE. Once installation is completed, the new "I0JX Ham Radio" group will be created, where you will find the ClusterMaster 4.30c icon. Double click icon to start program. You may then delete the TEMP directory. P.S. Should you need to re-install program (e.g. over a previous version), save files DXCC.DAT and CALLSIGN.DAT which contain your personal DXCC data, as they will be overwritten. After installation, restore original files. 9. OPERATIONS ========== 9.1. Foreword -------- As already mentioned in sect. 1, ClusterMaster may either be operated in the ONE WINDOW mode or in the TWO WINDOWS mode, this last one allowing to visualize the general PacketCluster traffic on a separate window. Selection between the two modes is done by program configuration (see sect. 9.2). Most ClusterMaster functions remain operational either if one operates connected to the PacketCluster (with program in CONN. MODE), or if he prefers to operate disconnected, simply monitoring the node traffic (with program in MON. MODE). ClusterMaster automatically manages the transition between the two modes (see sect. 9.2), in that program switches to CONN. MODE when one attemps to connect the PacketCluster, or to MON. MODE when one attempts to disconnect (in case of wrong manouvers, the MON. MODE and CONN. MODE may be forced manually, although not recommended, by means of the controls located at the right bottom end of the program window, see sect. 9.2). In the following, some advices on TNC parameters settings are given: - in the TWO WINDOWS mode, one shall set the TNC parameters as shown in the sample file (CLUSTER.AEA for generic AEA TNCs, CLUSTER.DSP for the DSP-2232, and CLUSTER.TN2 for TAPR TNC2). When one switches between CONN. MODE and MON. MODE or viceversa, the program automatically delivers the some extra parameters (HEADERLN OFF and MFILTER 13 for CONN. MODE, or HEADERLN ON and MFILTER 00 for the MON. MODE) P.S. to send the TNC a sample parameter file, you shall firstly rename (or copy) it as CLUSTER.TNC (remember to change <MY MYCALL> with <MY your call>) and you may then deliver it to the TNC, either manually ("Set TNC" selection of "TNC parameters" submenu of "Other" menu, see sect. 9.4), or automatically when the communication session is started, see sect. 9.2; - in the ONE WINDOW mode, the TWO WINDOWS mode TNC settings remain valid if one operates disconnected from the PacketCluster (with program in MON. MODE). If one instead operates connected (with program in CONN. MODE), to avoid mixing your own traffic with the general PacketCluster traffic, you are adviced to set the "monitor while connected" TNC parameter to OFF (in the TNC2 case, the relevant command is MCON OFF). Also in the ONE WINDOW mode, when switching between CONN. MODE and MON. MODE or viceversa, ClusterMaster automatically sets the HEADERLN parameter (to ON for the MON. MODE, or to OFF for the CONN. MODE). The program shows either two or three windows. From top: - the main receive window, termed MAIN WINDOW; - a second receive window (only shown in the TWO WINDOWS mode), termed AUXILIARY WINDOW; - a blue transmit window where you can type text, termed TX WINDOW. The boundary between the MAIN WINDOW and the AUXILIARY WINDOW may be varied either by the "Configure" menu (see sect. 9.2.), or by the sliding cursor located at the right hand side of the windows. The MAIN WINDOW is the one where main program functions are active (voice spelling, rig frequency setting, DXCC country identification). The text to be transmitted shall be written into the TX WINDOW. In the TWO WINDOWS mode, the received text will appear in the MAIN WINDOW or in the AUXILIARY WINDOW according to the following criterion: - when in CONN. MODE, incoming text addressed to you will appear in the MAIN WINDOW, while the general PacketCluster traffic will be monitored in the AUXILIARY WINDOW; - when in MON. MODE, the PacketCluster traffic will be monitored in the MAIN WINDOW, while nothing will appear in the AUXILIARY WINDOW. 9.2. Program start ------------- Switch the TNC on before booting program, verifying that TNC has been set for AWLEN 8 and PAR 0. After initially booting the program, you will be operating on a default configuration i.e. that written in the CLUSTER.CFG file provided with program. Therefore you shall firstly proceed to customize the program by means of the "Configure" menu. This will result in a modification of the CLUSTER.CFG file. When you are still unfamiliar with program, you are adviced to limit yourself to the following customizations: - "PC interface" menu and then "Port": select the desired COM port (COM1 through COM6). The selected port is shown in the small blue bottom window; - "PC interface" menu and then "Baud": select the serial port baud rate, in the range 1200 through 19200 baud. The selected baud rate will appear in the small yellow bottom window; - "Local data" menu and then "Sysops": enter two PacketCluster callsigns. The one currently active is that shown in the small orange window; - "Local data" menu and then "Home call": enter your own call; - "Local data" menu and then "WW locator": enter the full locator (6 characters) of your station; - "Features" menu and then "Voice": specify whether or not you wish that voice announcements be made (assuming that you have a sound card). If you do not have such a card, you shall set Voice to OFF, and announcements will be replaced by a "beep". With the "Full" option, the full call is spelled; with the "Brief" option only the first three letters are instead spelled; - "View" menu and then "Mode": choose whether you wish to operate in the ONE WINDOW or in the TWO WINDOWS mode. Note that this choice is only available if you are not currently engaged in a communications session. Once you have made all above selections, use "Save configuration" to store the current program configuration on the CLUSTER.CFG file. The next time you will boot the program, you will note that the selected configuration is now default and you will then not be required to configure program again. You may modify program configuration at any time and re-save it, if so desired. Once you get accustomed with program operation, you may proceed with the remaining customizations: - "Features" menu and then "Antenna track": specify whether or not you wish to use the automatic antenna tracking facility (only available with an ad-hoc board). "Antenna track" can be set to ON only if you have installed the tracker driver prior to booting Windows (see sect. 7); - "View" menu and then "Font name": select the desired font among those installed in Windows; - "View" menu and then "Font size": choose the selected font size; - "View" menu and then "Boldface": choose whether you wish that characters appear in boldface; - "View" menu and then "Window width": select the percentage of the screen width that you wish the program window to occupy. Please note that this percentage can also be varied by simply resizing the program window by the usual Windows techniques; - "View" menu and then "Window height": select the percentage of the screen height that you wish the program window to occupy. Same note as above; - "View" menu and then "Auxiliary window height": select the percentage of the program window height occupied by the AUXILIARY WINDOW. This choice is disabled in the ONE WINDOW mode; - "TNC" menu and then "Set TNC on start": select whether or not the file CLUSTER.TNC shall be automatically sent to the TNC on communications sessions opening; - "TNC" menu and then "Set TNC on exit": select whether or not the file CLUSTER.EXI (to be properly edited) shall be automatically sent to the TNC on sessions closure; - "Settings" menu, then "System commands" then "Command #1": enter the name of a "System command", to be selected among those implemented by your Sysop (use the "SH/COM" command to determine available System commands). Once entered, the System command #1 name will appear on one of the Menu 2 buttons (see sect. 9.3), thus allowing to readily send that command at any time by simply pressing the button. The default System command #1 name is "IOTA" (this provides access to Island-On-The-Air data). If the selected command requires a qualifier, terminate the command name with an asterisk (e.g. "IOTA*"; in this way, pressing the command button, you will be prompted to enter the required qualifier; - "Settings" menu, then "System commands" then "Command #2": you can enter another System command among the available ones, which will also appear on one of the Menu 2 buttons. The default System command #2 name is "OBLAST" (this provides access to Russian Oblast data). The asterisk rule is again valid; - "Settings" menu and then "Alert profile": on DX spot arrival, the program spells the DX callsign and pronounces its band. If you do not have confirmed, on that band or on the corresponding mode, any of the DXCC countries associated with the DX station prefix, the callsign spelling will be preceded by a bell alert-sound (this procedure utilizes data you shall store on file DXCC.DAT, see sect. 9.6). You may want not to be alerted for bands/modes on which you do not normally operate. The "Alert profile" option allows you to specify, for each band and each mode, whether you want or not to be alerted. The alert function is anyway disabled for the 2 and 0.7-meter bands. If you do not have a sound board, an alert sound consisting of 3 "beeps" will be generated, when appropriate, instead of the bell sound; - "Settings" menu then "Callbook" and finally "CD-ROM drive": specify the unit of your callbook CD-ROM drive (e.g. D:) or NONE if no CD-ROM callbook is available; - "Settings" menu then "Callbook" then "Which?" and finally "HamCall" if you utilize the HamCall CD-ROM; - "Settings" menu then "Callbook" then "Which?" and finally "RAC" if you utilize the Radio Amateurs Callbook CD-ROM; - "Settings" menu then "DX bullettins" and finally "Directory" to specify the directory containing the DX bullettin files to be browsed (see sect. 9.10); - "Settings" menu then "DX bullettins" and finally "Extension" to specify the extension of DX bullettins files (which shall be the same for all DX bullettin files, and will usually be different from that of other files possibly present in the same directory). Please note that, when saving configuration, the program window position on the screen is also stored; therefore you may conveniently first position the window as you prefer, and then save configuration. As far as "Font name" and "Font size" are concerned, your choice shall suit your personal preferences on the one hand, and, on the other hand, shall not result into messages (e.g. DX alerts) being split on two lines. Screen resolution, either 640x480 or 800x600 or 1024x768 plays an important role at this regard. You are adviced to use the "8514OEM" or "Fixedsys" fonts where available. Please remember that all voice function are also operational when ClusterMaster runs minimized, thus taking no space on Windows desktop. Once configuration is completed, the 16 buttons located in the bottom part of the program window should all still be disabled. In the "Action" menu then choose "Open COMn" (n = 1 through 6) to start the communications session. At this point, all buttons and menus will become enabled and the program fully operational. The first time you use the program, you may want to call the "Set TNC" choice of the "TNC parameters" selection of the "Other" menu (unless you have previously set your TNC parameters). The program will then deliver the TNC the parameters contained in the CLUSTER.TNC file. Verify that the TNC responds correctly to these parameters. Program automatically starts in the MON. MODE (as witnessed by the indicator placed at the right hand side of the TX WINDOW), so that the general PacketCluster traffic should immediately start to appear in the MAIN WINDOW. If you wish to remain disconnected (i.e. just monitoring the node traffic) you need doing nothing else. When operating disconnected, every DX spot will appear several times (once per currently connected station); however program will only spell once the same call. If you instead wish to operate connected to the PacketCluster, you shall click the "Connect" button. The program will then immediately switch into the CONN. MODE and will deliver the TNC the connect command. Once connected, one may deliver the PacketCluster desired commands by either typing them into the TX WINDOW, or by clicking the various pre-defined buttons (see par. 9.3.). To disconnect from the PacketCluster, click on the "Disconn." button, causing the TNC to disconnect from the PacketCluster and the program to revert into the MON. MODE. For any evenience, rememeber that it is always possible to "force" the program into the CONN. MODE or the MON. MODE (independently of the TNC connection status), by simply clicking the relevant option button; nevertheless in case of inconsistency (for instance if one operates in the MON. MODE while connected to the PacketCluster), the program may no longer operate correctly. Once you get accustomed to program operation, you may want that, on boot, the program automatically opens the communications session and attempts to connect the PacketCluster, without manual intervention. This is possible by firstly selecting the ClusterMaster icon (click once on it) and then modifying the Command line field (in the Properties), using the following syntax: C:\XXX\CLU_I0JX.EXE normal mode C:\XXX\CLU_I0JX.EXE C on boot, COMn is open and connection to PacketCluster is attempted. Program window starts minimized (i.e. reduced to an icon), although fully operational C:\XXX\CLU_I0JX.EXE E as above, but the program window starts in normal mode (C:\XXX is the ClusterMaster directory) 9.3. Buttons usage ------------- To simplify issuing PacketCluster commands, 16 buttons with predefined messages are made available. The bottom right-end button allows to modify the meaning of all other buttons, switching into "Men∙ 2". You may go back to "Men∙ 1" by pressing again the same button. The total number of available functions so equals 30. Bottons usage is detailed in the following. - Menu 1 - "Connect": sends the connect command to the TNC "Disconn.": sends the disconnect message to the PacketCluster "Command": sends a CTRL-C, thus putting the TNC in Command Mode "Converse": sends the command which puts the TNC in Converse mode "End ^Z": sends the sequence CTRL-Z <CR>, which the PacketCluster interprets as an end-of-message indicator "Cancel ^Y": sends the sequence CTRL-Y <CR>, which instructs the PacketCluster to either abort storing a message or a file just sent, or to halt downloading a message or a file "Mail": requests the existing messages directory "Own mail": requests the list of messages addressed to or originating from your own callsign "Bull. mail": requests the directory of messages addressed to ALL (i.e. the bullettins) "Delete mail": requests cancelling a message. You shall be prompted to specify the number of message to be cancelled "Send mail": requests the authorization to send a message to be stored in the PacketCluster. You will be prompted to specify the callsign of the addressed station. After answering the Packet Cluster request to enter the message subject, you may answer the subsequent request to send the message text by either directly typing it on the TX WINDOW (not recommended) and then terminating it with the button "Message end"), or better typing it into the minieditor available with the "File manager" selection of the "Files" menu and then pressing the "Send" button (see sect. 9.10). Messages are always delivered with the "private" option (i.e. they may only be read by the addressee or the sender) "Read mail": requests a message download. You will be prompted to specify the desired message number. A message can also be read by double clicking the message number in the message list obtained with the "Mail", "Own mail" and "Bull. mail" buttons. If you wish the incoming text to be stored on disk, you may use the "Capture to file - main window" option in the "Files" menu. Similarly, if you wish to directly print the incoming message, you may use the "Dump to buffer - main window" option in the "Print" menu, and then "Print buffer" when message delivery is completed "Talk" requests to send an immediate message to a user currently connected to the PacketCluster. You will be prompted to specify the user callsign and then to type the text to be transmitted, in an ad-hoc window. At this point you may either type the message text and then press "Send", or just hit <CR> to so enter the Talk mode, allowing you to chat with your correspondent "Sysop" selects the active Sysop between the two declared when configuring the program "DX alert" sends a DX alert message. You will initially be prompted to enter the DX station callsign. Then, you will be asked to enter the DX frequency (unless ClusterMaster is currently linked, via Windows DDE, to an appropriate rig control program in which case frequency is automatically entered, see sect. 9.5). You will finally be prompted to enter your comments (simply hit <CR> if you have no comments). - Menu 2 - "Here" informs the PacketCluster that you are present at the station. At the same time, it disables auto reply to incoming talks (see sect. 9.12) "Not here" informs the PacketCluster that you are not present at the station, so that your callsign will appear in brackets. At the same time it enables the talk auto reply feature (see sect. 9.12) Name of sends the System command #1 (see sect.9.2). You may be System prompted to specify an appropriate command qualifier command #1 Name of same as System command #1 System command #2 "Station info" requests information on a user registered to the PacketCluster. You will be prompted to specify the station callsign "Last DX" requests the list of lastly spotted DXs. You will be prompted to specify the number of spots to be shown and the band (or, in its place, a prefix or a callsign) "Users" requests the list of users currently connected to the local PacketCluster "Area dir" requests the names of the available PacketCluster file areas "Area: ROOT" allows to specify the PacketCluster files area for the "Files dir", "Send file" and "Read file" commands. The default files area is "ROOT", i.e. the area at the highest hierarchical level "Files dir" requests the directory of files stored in the specified files area "Send file" requests the authorization to send a file. You will be prompted to specify the file name to be stored in the specified files area. After confirmation, you may either directly type text on the TX WINDOW (terminating with button "End ^Z") or send it using the "File manager" (see "Send mail" button) "Read file" requests the download of a file contained in the specified file area. You will be prompted to enter the desired file name. Also in this case it is possible to store or print the incoming file on disk (see "Read mail" button) "Announce" requests to send an immediate message to all the currently connected local PacketCluster users. You will be prompted to type the message text on an ad-hoc panel "Full ann." as "Announce", but not confined to local users only "QSL info" requests a station QSL Manager. You will be prompted to specify the station callsign The button marked "Mute" located at the middle of the screen may be used to temporarily suspend voice announcements at any time (clicking it is equivalent to setting "Voice" to OFF in the "Features" choice of the "Configure" menu). Pressing "Speak" re-enables voice announcements. The same button gets re-labelled "Stop" when sending text to the TNC by means of the "File manager" or the "Set TNC" or the "Reset TNC 8-N-1" selections (see sect. 9.4). Pressing it halts text trasmission. 9.4. Menus usage ----------- It is described in the following. Menu "Action": allows to open the serial port ("Open COMn"), to close it ("Close COMn"), to terminate the program ("Quit"), to close the port and terminate the program ("Close COMn and quit) Menu "Files" allows to send a file or to browse DX bullettins ("File manager", see sect. 9.10), to start saving on file incoming DX spots ("Capture to file - DX spots"), or text received in the MAIN WINDOW ("Capture to file - main window"), or that received in the AUXILIARY WINDOW ("Capture to file - auxiliary window"), or that received in both windows ("Capture to file - both windows"), or to stop capturing ("End capture"). If you forget to terminate capture, this will automatically occur when you close the communications session. The capture file name is shown in the small green window at your left Menu "Print" allows to print incoming text on your printer. By selecting the "Dump to buffer - main window" option, text appearing in the MAIN WINDOW will start getting stored on a print buffer. Text will actually be printed when the "Print buffer" option is then selected. Similarly, text appearing in the AUXILIARY WINDOW or in both windows will start getting stored in the print buffer with the "Dump to buffer - auxiliary window" and "Dump to buffer - both windows" options respectively Menu "DXCC" displays a new panel identifying DXCC countries corresponding to an entered callsign or prefix, allowing to show and/or store bands and modes in which the country is worked or confirmed, to display the station address (derived from a CD-ROM callbook), and to provide additional information on the station (derived from DX bullettins), and to automatically point your antenna to the station bearing ("Find and point", see sect. 9.6), to visualize and print the countries worked / confirmed in each band/mode ("DXCC status", see sect 9.7), and to manage the "Database", by updating the prefixes file PREFIXES.TBL ("Update prefix table)" or the DXCC countries file DXCC.TBL ("Update country table"), and by re-initializing data bases ("Re-init"), which is only required after changing the reference number of a DXCC country in file DXCC.TBL Menu "View" allows to visualize panels respectively showing the DX spots received until then, see sect. 9.11 ("DX spots"), or the received talks, see sect. 9.12 ("Talks"), or the received announcements ("Announcements")"), to clear the MAIN WINDOW ("Clear main window"), to clear the AUXILIARY WINDOW ("Clear auxiliary window") and to clear the TX WINDOW ("Clear transmit window") Menu "Other" allows to take some notes and possibly store them on file INFO.TBL ("Take notes"), to be alerted (three bells, or seven "beeps" if no sound card is available) when a (whole or partial) user-defined string is recognized in the text being dumped into the MAIN WINDOW ("Alarm string"), to visualize the current DDE status, i.e. whether the DDE link to a rig control program has been established ("DDE status"), to test the voice spelling facility ("Voice test"), and to set the "TNC parameters" by sending the TNC the CLUSTER.TNC file ("Set TNC"), or by firstly resetting the TNC, then configuring the serial port at 8 bit, no parity, 1 stop and finally sending the TNC the CLUSTER.TNC file ("Reset TNC (8-N-1)") Menu "Configure" described before (sect.9.2) Menu "Hints" allows to visualize this file ("Help (English)") or the Italian version ("Help (Italiano)"), or to visualize, and possibly execute, all possible PacketCluster commands ("Commands summary"), or to get information on current program release ("About"). 9.5. Frequency and mode management ----------------------------- To remotely control the frequency and mode of your transceiver, you must run, concurrently with ClusterMaster, one of the following rig control programs (program may be booted either before or after ClusterMaster): * RigMaster, a new-generation Kenwood rig control program (release 5.00 or higher is needed); * RigMate, a simple ICOM rig control program; * ICOMtrol, an ICOM rig control program developed by IK0AOC. These programs "talk" with ClusterMaster via the Windows DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) feature, allowing data exchnage between programs running simultaneously. ClusterMaster automatically transfers frequency and mode data to an appropriate rig control program; conversely it can receive these data from such a program. In practice: - when you receive a DX spot (or you anyway have the list of the last DX spots, see button "Last DX"), you may double click on a frequency indication (in the MAIN WINDOW only), and this will cause the transceiver to shift to that frequency. This will occur unless DDE has been disabled in the rig control program. If you have there selected the "Frequency + mode" option, your transceiver will also switch to the mode appropriate for that frequency (e.g. for 14250 it will switch to USB). - if you wish to send a DX spot (see "DX alert" button), you need not typing the DX frequency, as ClusterMaster can determine, via the rig control program, the current transceiver frequency. 9.6. DXCC data base and antenna pointing ----------------------------------- ClusterMaster contains a detailed radioamateur prefix and DXCC country data base (both current and deleted countries), allowing to immediately recognize the countr(ies) corresponding to a given prefix, including non-standard ones (provided that they comply with ITU assignment rules). Should a prefix correspond to more than one country, all applicable countries will be displayed. For each country, the most common current prefix is shown first (in capital letters), and then the most common prefixes used in the past and now no longer used, if any (in small letters). The data base is not limited to identify countries, it also providing, where possible, the "region" where the DX station is located, on the basis of its prefix (i.e. for prefix CE3, program recognizes country Chile and region Santiago). Nevertheless, for DXCC management purposes, all regions (CE1 through CE8 in the given example) will count as a single country. This rule also applies when a given country is shown several times, to highlight geographic areas with different time zones and/or ITU/CQ zones; e.g. in the case of China, although four geographic areas are presented, they all correspond to the same DXCC country. The prefix data base, i.e. file PREFIXES.TBL, shall be updated when ITU changes a prefix allocation or makes a new allocation. Conversely, when ARRL changes the DXCC status of a country (from current to deleted) or adds a new country, both the prefix and the country data base, i.e. file DXCC.TBL, shall usually have to be updated. The prefix and DXCC country data bases are plain ASCII files which can be updated with an editor (CLOSELY follow instructions given in file C_EXPLA.TXT). ClusterMaster allows you to edit the data base files PREFIXES.TBL and DXCC.TBL with the "Database" option of the "DXCC" menu ("Update prefix table" and "Update country table"). Once tables have been updated, you must re-initialize them ("Re-init") only if you have changed the reference number of a DXCC country. To utilize the data base you may: - either choose the "Find and point" option in the "DXCC" menu; - or double-click (only in the MAIN WINDOW) the callsign of a DX station. In both cases, a new window will appear showing several data relevant to the prefix or the callsign entered in the text box marked "Enter call" (if you double-clicked a callsign, this will automatically appear in that text box). You may write the desired callsign or prefix in the "Enter call" text box at any time, and the program will immediately react. If you check the "deleted" marker, program will search the entered prefix in the deleted DXCC country portion of the data base. For instance if you enter AC3 and the deleted marker is checked, you will get the deleted country Sikkim; otherwise, with the marker not checked, you will get U.S.A. Although there is a single country data base file, for all purposes the current country data base is logically distinct from the deleted country one. Pressing the "Info" button will start searching the entered call across the DX bullettin files that you may have stored in a specified directory (see "Configure" menu). This is useful to search addresses and QSL managers. This feature is described in detail in sect. 9.10, item "DX BULLETTINS domain". Finally, pressing the "Address" button will cause the country list to be replaced by a panel showing the station address, derived from a CD-ROM callbook (HamCall or Radio Amateurs Callbook). The address can be copied on the Windows clipboard ("Copy"), or printed pressing the "Print" button (should the address be not properly formatted, you may edit text before printing, such as to put name, address, city and country on separate lines). By changing the value of "Horiz. tabs" and "Vert. tabs", you can move the print area, a feature useful when you are printing directly on an envelope (the entered tab values are stored on file PRINT.SAV, so that next time you need not enter them again). You may go back to the country list by pressing the "Country" button. NOTE: as CD-ROM publishers may eventually change their data base format, please notify any problem to e-mail address: i0jx@amsat.org The following data are provided: Upper panel: ----------- the most common prefix of the identified countr(ies) (capital letters) possibly followed by old prefix(es)(small letters), and the country/region name(s). Should several countries/regions correspond to the entered prefix, click desired country name to show relevant data. Center right panel: ------------------ - continent where country is located ("Continent:") - ITU and CQ zones ("Zone ITU/CQ:") - time difference with respect to GMT ("Local time GMT") - distance in kilometers ("Distance (Km):") - latitude in degrees ("Latitude (deg):") - longitude in degrees ("Longitude (deg):") - WorldWide locator ("WW locator:") - sunrise time expressed in GMT ("Sunrise (GMT):") - sunset time expressed in GMT ("Sunset (GMT):") When provided information is insufficient to determine ITU/CQ zones, the indicator "**" will be displayed. If you know that Daylight Saving Time (DST) is currently in use in the subject country, you may press the "time" button, causing this to change into "DST": at this point you may read the label as "Local DST GMT" and the time difference with respect to GMT will be increased by one hour. Pressing again the button now labelled "DST", this will revert back to default (toggle mode). If the environment variable TZ, which defines the difference between your PC time and GMT, has been declared (see sect. 7), the following enhancements will occur: - the selected country time will now be shown in explicit form, it no longer being expressed as a difference with respect to GMT. The label will now read "Local time", or "Local DST" if you have pressed the "time" button (see above); - the sunrise and sunset times of the subject country will now be expressed in your PC time and the labels will now read "Sunrise (PC):" and "Sunset (PC):". Center left panel (marked "Antenna heading"): -------------------------------------------- - your antenna heading to the subject DXCC country/region ("Local"), in deg.; - the reciprocal heading ("Reciprocal"), i.e. the antenna heading of your correspondant. When the "long path" marker is checked, both the "Local" and the "Reciprocal" text boxes will show the diametrically opposite heading. All varied parameters are identified by a yellow background, including distance which is also calculated on the long-path route. If the "Antenna track" option of the "Features" choice in the "Configure" menu is set to ON the following facilities become available: - pressing the "Point" button, the antenna is automatically turned to the heading shown in the "Local" text box. While the antenna rotates, the heading value is shown in blue, and reverts back to red when rotation has completed. If desired, antenna rotation can be halted by pressing the "Stop" button; - after a few seconds antenna has stopped, the current antenna bearing (in deg) is shown in the "Current" text box. When desired (e.g. if the antenna has been turned manually), one can update this indication by pressing the "Read" button. The indication is anyway updated every time the "Find and point" window is activated. Please note that you are allowed to edit all text boxes containing red indications (i.e. "Local", "Latitude (deg):", "Longitude (deg):" and "WW locator:"). This permits pointing your antenna to a manually specified bearing, or to determine the longitude and latitude corresponding to a given WW locator, etc. When any of these data is manually changed, all other indications disappear, them becoming meaningless. All data can be re-displayed by simply clicking the country name. Lower panel: ----------- By this panel you may store on file DXCC.DAT whether the subject country has been confirmed, worked or not yet worked, separately for the various bands and modes. To do this, just click one or more times the check box located at the immediate left of the button showing a band or a mode, until one of the two following conditions is obtained: - the box is checked and the band/mode button is blue: country worked; - the box is checked and the band/mode button is red: country confirmed. Initially, all boxes are unchecked and all the band/mode buttons are black, this signifying that the country has not been worked. Before any other action, you shall press the "Save" button to store data on file DXCC.DAT. Please note that, every time you press "Save", all the band/mode data for the subject country are stored as currently shown on the panel. At any time, you may update, with the same procedure, the bands and modes for any DXCC country. Once data have been entered and stored, they will be re-shown each time the DXCC country is selected. Please note that file DXCC.DAT stores bands/modes for each proper DXCC country. This means that different regions of the same DXCC country are treated as a single country (e.g. CE2 and CE3 are both associated to country "Chile"). Data stored on file are also used to decide whether the bell alert sound is to be generated or not upon arrival of a DX spot bearing a prefix corresponding to a DXCC country which is unconfirmed in the spotted band/mode (see. sect. 9.2, item "Alert profile"). It is also possible to store the callsign (10 characters max.) of the station which has been worked or is confirmed for the various bands/modes, for the subject country. Just press the button showing the desired band/mode (as long as it is blue or red), then write the callsign in the window located at the upper right corner of the panel (pre-defined as ENTER CALL) and finally press the "Save" button, so storing the callsign on file CALLSIGN.DAT. At any time you may press a band/mode button, showing the callsign worked or confirmed in that band/mode, for the selected country. 9.7 DXCC status ----------- By clicking the "DXCC status" option in the "DXCC" menu, you will get to a panel showing your detailed DXCC status. Clearly, this will only be possible if you have previously entered your DXCC data by the "Find and Point" option (see sect. 9.6). Firstly: - choose, by clicking the "Current", or the "Deleted", or the "All" selector, whether you are searching current, deleted or all (current + deleted) countries; - choose, by clicking the "Confirmed", or the "Unconfirmed", or the "Worked", or the "Not worked", or the "Waiting QSL" selector, whether you are searching countries confirmed, unconfirmed, worked, not worked or for which you are waiting a QSL, respectively; - choose the band (160 ... 0.7) or mode (SSB, CW, FSK, SAT) you are interested in, by clicking the relevant label which then becomes red. If you wish to see your general DXCC status, independently of modes or bands, then click "Overall". By pressing the "Show" button, you will initially see: - the total number of worked (blue) or confirmed (red) countries, for each band or mode, or in absolute ("Overall"); - the total number of countries (black) contained in the DXCC list ("DXCC"), as per file DXCC.TBL (i.e. independently of whether you have them worked and/or confirmed). Then, a list of the countries matching your selections will appear (note that the country identifier, as per file DXCC.TBL, is appended to the country name). At this point you may click any of the countries of the list, and the label marked "stored call" will then show the callsign of the station of that country for the selected band or mode (provided it has been stored, see sect. 9.6). If you select the "DXCC" label and then press "Show", you will see the total DXCC country list, independently of the other selections. Printing facilities are also available. You may: - print the country totals for each band/mode ("Print totals"); - print the list of countries currently being shown ("Print list"); - print the status (worked "W" or confirmed "C") for each country of the DXCC list in any band/mode ("Print status"). This facility is only available when the "DXCC" label is selected. 9.8. Scrolling text -------------- If you wish to browse text which has already scrolled out of the MAIN WINDOW or the AUXILIARY WINDOW, you may press the vertical bar placed at the right hand side of the windows, and marked "S". At this point, text reception is halted and you may then browse old text by the normal Windows scrolling techniques. In the meanwhile, incoming text will not get lost, it being stored on a temporary buffer (no more than about 8000 characters), and will eventually be shown as soon as normal operation is restored, i.e. when the "Cancel" button will be pressed. If instead you dwell too long in the scroll mode, some of the incoming text may get lost. When in the scroll mode, one may select desired text (in either the MAIN or the AUXILIARY WINDOW only) by the normal Windows techniques, and then copy it to the Clipboard, e.g. to transfer it into a Word Processor ("Copy" button), or directly print it ("Print" button), or store it on a file, with name specified on the "File name" text box (default is SELETEXT.TXT), which will be placed in the ClusterMaster directory ("Save" button). 9.9 Commands -------- As already mentioned, the "Commands summary" selection of the "Hints" menu allows to visualize, and possibly execute, all PacketCluster commands which are not implemented on the pre-programmed buttons. These commands are contained in file CLUSTER.CDS, which may be edited when required. Editing rules are given in file C_EXPLA.TXT. 9.10 "File manager" option of the "Files" menu ----------------------------------------- When this option is activated, a new panel will appear. Two "browse domains" are possible (select them with button "Switch"), i.e.: - the ALL FILES domain. In this mode, the panel acts as a text editor by which you can prepare text, to be eventually be transmitted on radio by pressing the "Send" button (this is referred to in sect. 9.3, with regard to buttons "Send mail" and "Send file"). To prepare text, you may just write it in the large white window, or instead retrieve an existing text file and then edit it by hand. To do this, just select the desired file directory and name, by clicking the appropriate commands. Once you select a file, it will be immediately displayed in the large window. For manual editing, use the normal Windows techniques (CTRL-C to copy, CTRL-X to cut and CTRL-V to paste text). The "Clear" button clears the window. The "Print" button prints the window. - the DX BULLETTINS domain. This mode allows to automatically browse a great number of DX bullettin files (such as the 425DXNEWS), for quickly searching an address or a QSL manager through all of them. This feature is very useful, as you may otherwise need to go through a lot of individual DX bullettins to retrieve the desired information. Put all the DX bullettin files you have (keep the old ones too!) in the same directory (directory name must be specified with the "Configure" menu, see sect. 9.2.) and rename (if required) all files, giving them the same extension (also the extension must be specified with the "Configure" menu). Ensure that the size of individual files does not exceed about 64 Kbyte. Once you are in the DX BULLETTINS domain, type the word to be searched in the small text box and then press the "Search" button. A part of the first file in which the entered word is found will be shown in the large window, the entered word being highlighted. At this point you may want to select some text and copy it to the Windows clipboard ("Copy" button) or print it ("Print" button) or save it to file ("Save") with a specified name (default is BULLTEXT.TXT). Then, you can either press the "Quit" button to terminate search (and possibly start searching another word across the same set of files), or the "More" button to continue searching the same word across the same file first and then across all other files. You may directly get the DX BULLETTINS browse domain by pressing the "Info" button of the "Find and Point" panel(see sect. 9.6). 9.11 "DX spots" option of the "View" menu ------------------------------------ When this option is activated, a new panel appears showing all DX spots arrived until that moment. After selecting the desired spot, by clicking it, you may set the frequency / mode of your rig ("Set freq" button, or quickly click the spot twice, once with left mouse button and then with right button), or search information on the relevant country directly getting to the "Find and point" panel, see sect. 9.6 ("Find" button, or double clicking the spot). Please note that the "DX spots" panel is always updated, even when it is in foreground; therefore you may keep it steadily visible (it will remain visible even if ClusterMaster is reduced to icon). By default, panel just shows frequency and callsign; by pressing the "Expand" button you may see the other spot data (then press "Shrink" to revert back to default). The "DX spots" panel works properly even if you operate disconnected from the PacketCluster (with program in MON. MODE), as all repeated spots get filtered out. If you wish, you may resize the panel height. To take even less room on the screen, you may double click the panel frame, and the buttons will so disappear. Double clicking the panel again will cause the buttons to reappear. 9.12 "Talks" option of the "View" menu --------------------------------- This option leads you to a panel showing the last received "talks". It is here also possible to activate the auto reply function, by which received talks are automatically answered by a predefined message; this is useful when you are not present at the station. To do this, just click the indicator at the left of the reply message you want to select; alternatively you may just press the bottom "Not here" button (see sect. 9.3), which enables the first auto reply message. The auto reply feature is disabled by pressing the bottom button "Here" (see again sect. 9.3). The auto reply messages may be edited; all modifications will be stored on file MESSAGE.SAV, so that next time you will not need to re-edit messages. Once the auto reply feature is enabled, the selected message is sent to the talk originator as soon as a talk is received. The bottom "Talk" button will alert you at the arrival of a talk, by blinking until you get to the "Talks" option of "View" menu, where you can comfortably read the talk. 10. CONCLUSIONS =========== As a final note, you are adviced to operate ClusterMaster such as to not occupy a great portion of the screen, thus leaving more room for other programs you may want to run concurrently. After booting ClusterMaster and getting connected to the PacketCluster, choose the "DX spots" option of the "View" menu, and then reduce the main program window to icon. At this point, only the "DX spots" panel will remain visible; from there you will be able to set the rig frequency and mode ("Set. freq" button or quickly left click / right click) and to show the "Find and point" panel ("Find" button or double click), which allows to rotate your antenna, to consult the CD-ROM callbook and to browse the DX bullettins. Please note that all above functions remain operational also if you operate disconnected from the PacketCluster, with program in "MON. MODE". Enjoy the program and please let me know of any problem or suggestions to improve it. Tony, I0JX / K0JX e-mail: i0jx@amsat.org