[Dxspider-support] Self-spotting and de-duplication

[Rene Olsen]

Hi.

To be honest I am not quite sure how to respond to this, without stepping on someones toes. 
But here it goes.

You are aware that the DX-Cluster system is also used by casual users, who couldn't care 
less about bandmaps, contests and what else?

DX-Clusters have been used just fine for 30+ years, without the use of RBN.

> A cluster node without skimmer spots is of very little value.

That is some statement. So what you are saying, is that all DX-Clusters without RBN feed 
might as well close down? I mean since they are of very little value.

RBN is probably a good thing for some. But the user can turn it OFF if the user don't want it.

I don't know how much RBN spots are used on various DX-Clusters. I can only speak for 
OZ5BBS-7. I have an average of maybe 45-55 users on a daily basis. Not many of them have 
enabled the RBN feed.

I doubt that the casual user of a DX-Cluster wants to get a DX spot of some W station spotting 
itself 930 times during the CQWW contest.

Its like everything revolves about contesting. Thats not the case.

Many users who use DX-Clusters, couldn't care less about contests.

I am not saying that DX-Clusters shouldn't evolve, and we should be stuck at how it was 30 
years ago. But, it should be done with the casual DX-Cluster user in mind as well.

I hope I didn't step on too many toes here :-)

Vy 73 de Rene / OZ1LQH


On 12 Jan 2025 at 22:51, Björn Ekelund via Dxspider- wrote:

> A cluster node without skimmer spots is of very little value.
> The reverse beacon network produces about 12 million spots on a
> big contest weekend. This is consolidated and de-duped into perhaps half a
> million.
> With this in mind, what makes a few thousand self spots a problem?
> 
> The days of watching the telnet feed scroll by are long gone.
> Today computers turn the spot flow into bandmap items and lists of wanted
> stations.
> The cluster connection is just a data feed. Not a user interface.
> 
> Björn SM7IUN
> 
> On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 9:41PM Rene Olsen via Dxspider-support <
> dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Hi.
> >
> > Does this mean that we can get selfspots every 3 minutes from 5000+ users
> > or whatever?
> >
> > If thats the case it is just stupid.
> >
> > If it is really the case, it makes one wonder if it is even worth running
> > a spider node anymore. It
> > will totally ruin the entire idea of DX clusters. Which is not to allow
> > some OZ station or
> > whatever, to send self spot every 3 minutes 24/7.
> >
> > Just my opinion.
> >
> > Vy 73 de Rene / OZ1LQH
> >
> > On 12 Jan 2025 at 18:54, Björn Ekelund via Dxspider- wrote:
> >
> > > Some of the default settings of DXSpider seem optimized for users staring
> > > at the telnet feed.
> > >
> > > In my scripts/startup I have added
> > >
> > > set/var $RBN::respottime = 180
> > > set/var $Spot::minselfspotqrg  0
> > >
> > > A cluster node should never suppress a self spot. The minimum self
> > spotting
> > > periodicity is set
> > > by the contest's rules and the cluster should never interfere with this.
> > > Typical minimum periods for
> > > self spotting in contests are between 3 and 10 minutes.
> > >
> > > If DXSpider does suppress self spots under certain conditions I would
> > like
> > > to know how to disable this.
> > >
> > > Björn SM7IUN
> > >
> > > On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 4:35PM Keith, G6NHU via Dxspider-support <
> > > dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Now that self spotting is allowed for a trial period in all RSGB HF
> > > > contests, I´ve been asked about self-spotting and submitting duplicate
> > > > spots by a couple of my users.
> > > >
> > > > Some time ago I set minselfspotqrg to 0 to allow self spotting but
> > what is
> > > > the situation regarding duplicates because I understand some logging
> > > > software can now self spot every few minutes.  I don´t necessarily
> > agree
> > > > with this but it´s going to happen more and more.
> > > >
> > > > What´s the period during which the cluster will reject a self spot as a
> > > > dupe please and is there a variable that can be tweaked to adjust it?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > >
> > > > 73 Keith.
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Dxspider-support mailing list
> > > > Dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk
> > > > https://mailman.tobit.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/dxspider-support
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Dxspider-support mailing list
> > Dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk
> > https://mailman.tobit.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/dxspider-support
> >
>