[Dxspider-support] Callsign with / gives "invalid callsign on login

[Dirk Koopman]

This is correct. It does that. It's a long standing request and it's 
something that that I have looked at long and hard and then left as it 
is. The trouble is that there is a ripple effect that will run through 
the product with little (and maybe great) bugs appearing in all sorts of 
places depending on EXACTLY what a user expects to happen when logging 
in as, say OH3/G1TLH.

The first issue is that what you login with a callsign, that is the 
primary (only) key to that callsign record in the user file. This is a 
similar problem to logging in as G1TLH-1 etc. As far as DXSpider is 
concerned it is a different, distinct, user* and treated completely 
independently.  G1TLH and G1TLH-1 are *different* users, they may look 
the same and have the same information (name, qth, locator etc), but is 
because I have put them there.

What has been requested, in the past, is that one should be able to 
login as, for example, PA0/G1TLH - perfectly legal and reasonable but 
then *still be*  G1TLH for all normal purposes except changing my 
default country code, itu zone, default (or new) qra locator etc because 
I am in the Netherlands. What does one do with GM1TLH. I'm now in 
Scotland (sadly becoming less likely to happen every day that passes). 
How do I deal with that? The answer is I can't (or at least not without 
rewriting large chunks of code and probably making it bigger and slower).

For historical reasons, because I started writing this code in 1997, the 
standard I chose was the one that AK1A's Packet Cluster software had 
user; which is the AX25 standard of 7 letters and digits +  SSID (which 
could then only go up to 15 with SSIDs above 7 having special meanings - 
neither limit or convention now applies). Even assuming that one accepts 
that PA0/G1TLH is distinct and independent in the same way as G1TLH or 
G1TLH-1, it has ramifications for the formatting of output from the node 
to users (spots, sh/dx  et al) - it reaches into the heart of that code 
- at least as far as formatting output is concerned because of the extra 
length. All normal user output is based on a line being 80 characters wide.

Perhaps I should base my output on a 100 or 120 character line length. I 
have mooted this very thing. Only had one comment on it so far. I would 
be happy to do that and allow OH3/G1TLH (as a distinct user) in 
principle, provided I get some buyin from the logging/contest cluster 
client programs that they can cope with both the callsign and the 
changing formatting. But even that is still quite a lot of detailed, 
fiddly, work that touches many parts of the software. I could copy 
whatever Lee VE7CC is doing with his CC-Client software, over and above 
the 'set/ve7cc' mode that is available for spots. But it still requires 
coordination and discussion amongst all authors - which I would welcome. 
Unfortunately, one major author (of AR-Cluster) has now passed away and, 
I am told, taken his source code with him.

Thus the status quo persists.

73 Dirk G1TLH

* but, under certain circumstances you might acquire an SSID, as in the 
node gives you such a callsign, if you login with your base call G1TLH 
in rapid succession and the enabling parameter is set. But there are 
trade offs here that can prove annoying if you ALSO want to login as 
G1TLH-1 (or whatever) as a separate user.

On 05/08/2020 20:23, G3YPP via Dxspider-support wrote:
>
> Dirk,
>
> If you try to login to a node with a callsign with a / in it eg 
> OH5/G3YPP the node returns “invalid callsign”.
>
> I picked this up on the HRD forum with someone trying to login in to 
> WA9PIE-2.
>
> I tried it on my node MX0NCA-2 which gives same result – direct telnet 
> in using PUTTY, so no HRD involvement.   Login with a Callsign 
> containing a / returns “invalid callsign”
>
> Node running mojo 1.57 build 319
>
> Regards
>
> Mike
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for 
> Windows 10
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dxspider-support mailing list
> Dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk
> https://mailman.tobit.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/dxspider-support

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