[Dxspider-support] PC Packet Cluster Protocol

[Dirk Koopman]

Mike

In order to connect into the network you need to initialize correctly.
Simply "being a node" and issuing PC23/73 lines isn't enough. 

There is an additional problem: you have to be 'first' with that hour's
WWV update. If you are not the 'first' then your update will be ignored.

If you want to discuss this (rather arcane) subject further, it might be
better to do so offline direct to mailto:djk at tobit.co.uk.

Dirk G1TLH

On Thu, 2002-04-04 at 18:32, Mike Lewis wrote:
> I am looking for more information on the PC Packet Cluster Protocol. The
> command descriptions given on the DX Cluster website are great, for as far
> as they go, but I want to understand not only the message content but the
> actual protocol used when nodes inter-communicate, i.e. which responses are
> expected when certain messages are received by a node, etc...
> 
> My motivation is to allow me to finish writing a software package that auto
> populates my WWV database of my cluster node using WWV email messages that I
> receive from an official WWV update source on the web (www.hfradio.org).
> This allows me to get current, accurate WWV info onto my cluster without
> being connected to any other nodes. Staying unconnected is preferable to
> ensure that I have only local spots on my cluster (I mean really local, i.e.
> stations within my 2m transmit/receive range), and to avoid all the
> complexity of filtering spots and working out the details of a cluster
> connect to another system given my strange, dynamic IP setup of my DSL
> connection to the web.
> 
> Currently my application I wrote is able to capture and decode the WWV email
> updates as they come in, automatically login and connect to the cluster
> using a callsign/SSID combo I have told the cluster is a spider node. It
> then sends in a WWV spot message from my local 'fictitious' node (KE0MF-2)
> to my Spider Cluster Node (KE0MF-15), using the format shown:
> 
> PC23^date^hour^SFI^A^K^forecast^KE0MF-2^KE0MF-2^H99^~
> 
> with date, hour, SFI, A, and K replaced by the corresponding values and
> forecast holding a fixed string right now (for test purposes). I am not sure
> what the hop parameter is used for, so it is set to 'H99'...I don't seem to
> be able to reliably get the spot to be accepted (it has worked a few times,
> but mostly does not work, with no apparent error messages generated...) I am
> assuming that I am missing some nuance of the handshaking protocol. I would
> also like to know how to potentially use the WWV merge capability to enter
> archival WWV data in the cluster, if possible.
> 
> Alternatively, if there is some easier way of getting this data into the
> system automatically within the constraints outlined above, I would love to
> know what that is.
> 
-- 
Please Note: Some Quantum Physics Theories Suggest That When the 
Consumer Is Not Directly Observing This Product, It May Cease to 
Exist or Will Exist Only in a Vague and Undetermined State.