[Dxspider-support] To be or not to be one of the PC9X

[Dirk Koopman]

Essentially PC92 is not a user/sysop controllable feature. It started 
off life as a PC16/71/19/21 AK1A protocol replacement to allow automatic 
multiply connected nodes in (many ... [many]) circular networks. 
Something that the old protocol could not do. Not to mention that, if a 
loop was accidentally created, then all the nodes in that loop would 
become inaccessible to their partner nodes. Amongst other bad things. 
DXSpider 'master' branch spent far too much effort (and programmer time) 
trying to mitigate this - but required individual operator configuration 
with route filtering, isolation etc. This also meant that connecting a 
new node could be a major production, especially if one connected to a 
network on another continent that already had connections back to your 
node some several hops away. PC92 was my answer to this.

There are things that one can do to switch it off as a side effect of 
something else - set/isolate being the obvious mechanism, but it has 
some other unwanted side effects (such as disappearing from the network 
and/or become an old fashioned AK1A like node). In other words: try to 
cripple a 'PC92' capable node to look like an 'AK1A' node. The only 
valid reason for doing this is to connect to an actual AK1A or AR-C 
node.  CC cluster deals with PC92 in its own way and co-exists perfectly 
happily with the rest of the PC92 capable family.

PC93 (maybe PC94 in time) uses the same protocol deduping method to 
distribute things like announce, chat and talk around the system. There 
are other things the pipeline...

TL&DR: Leave it alone and allow the PC9x protocol to do its thing.

73 Dirk G1TLH

On 04/09/2024 07:36, Rudy Bakalov via Dxspider-support wrote:
> You are making one big assumption that everyone runs DXSpider can 
> configure PC92 on/off. I run CC Cluster, which is a more or less black 
> box with very little configuration options. I would guess that other 
> node ops either can't or don't know how to change the setting.
>
> Is there a published protocol with full syntax for all cluster packet 
> types?
>
> Rudy N2WQ
>
> On Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 01:39:19 AM EDT, Kin EA3CV via 
> Dxspider-support <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> The PC92 sentences integrate the network functions for the nodes.
> They inform everyone of changes that occur within and between nodes. 
> The UP/DOWN of nodes, the table of neighbor nodes, the users who 
> establish a session or disconnect, the versions of the software used, ...
> These sentences are not intended for users, but they are necessary. In 
> short, they provide information about the state of the Network, 
> allowing the node software to make some decisions.
> I think all nodes should use them. If they have it disabled, it can be 
> enabled.
> Just run
> sh/ver all
> and it will show a list with the PC92 on/off.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kin EA3CV
>
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