[Dxspider-support] What exactly are the country files used for?

[Dirk Koopman]

It is used by the show/dx command, as well as many other commands that 
require the information contained within these files (show/heading etc). 
It also provides DXSpider with an "country number" which, sadly, is not 
the same as the other country numbers used today. This is because these 
numbers were invented by AK1A for his original use and it was the only 
game in town (that I knew about)  in 1997 when I started this project. I 
did ask around as to whether there were standard ones defined by 
ITU/ARRL etc but was told that there were none.

Not many people use vanilla telnet/ax25 clients these days, but I need 
these wpxloc.raw and cty.dat files for my own purposes (after 
amalgamation and conversion by create_prefix.pl) in DXSpider.

73 de Dirk G1TLH

On 03/01/2023 07:33, Keith Maton via Dxspider-support wrote:
> Joe,
>
> Not really, no. For those people who have no link between their 
> logging software and the cluster, the situation you’ve described is 
> completely irrelevant.
>
> Aether has no link to the cluster, I access my node via the terminal. 
>  That’s why I keep cty.dat up to date for Aether.
>
> In the cluster output on screen there is no reference to entity, etc.
>
> I’m not trying to be awkward here, just trying to understand what the 
> node does with the info contained in this database.
>
> 73 Keith.
>
> —
>
>
>> On 2 Jan 2023, at 23:01, JOSEPH REED <joe at n9jr.com> wrote:
>>
>>  Keith,
>>
>> I don’t load a copy of CTY to my Mac, I trust the cluster to be 
>> authoritative in that regard. And that is why we have crontab jobs to 
>> keep it current. When a node receives a spot and retransmits it to 
>> the user it has all the data it needs for a good log.  And on the 
>> flip side, it illuminates the spot as a potentially needed for 
>> example if WZ8ZZZ is in KH4 and it is needed on 1.8 MHz it will flag 
>> it a needed country in the logging software and not my neighbor down 
>> the road in Michigan.
>>
>> Does that make sense?
>>
>> Joe N9JR
>>
>>> On Jan 2, 2023, at 4:33 PM, Keith Maton via Dxspider-support 
>>> <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Joe,
>>>
>>> Yes, I understand the reason for them when it comes to logging 
>>> software but that still doesn’t explain why they need to be updated 
>>> on a dxspider node.  A logbook will read that info from its own 
>>> local copy of the cty file.
>>>
>>> How does dxspider use these files?
>>>
>>> 73 Keith G6NHU
>>>
>>> —
>>>
>>>
>>>> On 2 Jan 2023, at 22:24, JOSEPH REED <joe at n9jr.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Not a dumb question.  They are used to identify what DXCC entity, 
>>>> CQ and ITQ zone a station is in.  They allow for accurate logging 
>>>> so if you upload a LoTW contact it is for the correct entity. 
>>>>  Today I worked W6W which intuitively you would think it was 
>>>> California, but it was actually Hawaii and my logging program 
>>>> recorded it as KH6.
>>>>
>>>> If they are old you may not get the results you are expecting.
>>>>
>>>> 73,
>>>> Joe N9JR
>>>>
>>>>> On Jan 2, 2023, at 3:12 PM, Keith Maton via Dxspider-support 
>>>>> <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> This may sound like a really dumb question but it only occurred to 
>>>>> me earlier today and this is after running a cluster for years.
>>>>>
>>>>> What exactly are *cty.dat* and *wpxloc.raw* used for in the 
>>>>> context of the dxspider?
>>>>>
>>>>> I know they’re important, it’s a big thing to keep them updated 
>>>>> and I have scripts running not only on my node but also on my main 
>>>>> logging computer for Fldigi and Aether so that they’re always up 
>>>>> to date.  I know why they’re using them.
>>>>>
>>>>> But why?  How does dxspider use these files?  What are the 
>>>>> implications if they’re old?
>>>>>
>>>>> My dad always told me that if you want to know something, it’s 
>>>>> always better to ask than remain quiet.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>> 73 Keith.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Dxspider-support mailing list
>>>>> Dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk
>>>>> https://mailman.tobit.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/dxspider-support
>>>>
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>>
>
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