[Dxspider-support] Call Sign Validation Exceptions

[SM6U, Rickard]

>> Why?  Because some software will reject DX spots if the numerical IP
>> address is from a different country than the spotter callsign.  For
>> example, if W1AN connected to the cluster from an IP address in
>> Ireland.
>
> This is just a nonsensical thing to filter on !
> for several reasons

Agreed! I think it's just VE7CC who uses a geographical filter atm. Someone 
else ..?

> My cluster is now on a server in the UK, In the past it has been on
> various servers in the US, does this now mean that spots I make from the
> console will be discarded because the source IP is a UK one yet I am an
> EI

Aswell, my SM-Machine has been hosting M0UKC for some years now :-)

> Adding support for EI/W1AN is not as simple as just adding support for
> it to spider, care needs to be taken that it won't have unintended
> consequences to other nodes on the network who may not handle the EI/
> part of the call correctly. It won't make anyone happy if each spot ends
> up appearing twice because some nodes discarded the EI/ part of the
> call

There's some charachter limit in the callsign field in the AX25 protocol I 
believe. It would be nice (but probably lots of work) to implement a "new" 
protocol for spider nodes, and still run old protocol towards nodes that 
doesn't comply. To avoid multiple spots from different cutting it could be 
decided as some kind of standard that the first characters according to old 
protocols would be sent (even if it would look kinda strange).

Almost all packet cluster is QRT in SM these days. Just a few still alive. It's 
easier to go 3G on your phone.

/Rick
  SM6U