See the Announcement section of the User
Manual for details on user announcement options.
The ANNOUNCE/SYSOP command allows announcements to be sent to the
console of other nodes in the network.
Sysops can use this command to coordinate cluster network
operations. Syntax: Announce/Sysop message
Example:
Announce/sysop rebooting node back in 5 minutes
The SET/BLOCKANN is used
to restrict a call from making announcements.
When a restricted user makes an announcement the file BlockAnn.TXT
located in the configuration folder is echoed to the blocked user.
Examples:
set/blockann te5st
set/noblockann te5st
The ANNOUNCE/ DIRECT
command allows announcements to be sent to direct connected users and adjacent
connected nodes. The command is not
repeated to the rest of the network. This
command is very handy when rebooting the node of updating software.
Example:
announce/direct rebooting node back in 5 minutes
You can also use the Commands>Announcement
dialog to make announcements. If you
click on the upper 1/2 of the Announce Dialog, a pop-up menu will display a
common choice of announcements to select from like: "Rebooting node. Please reconnect in 2 minutes." and
"Up-Reving software. Please
reconnect in 2 minutes."
The Cfg>Filters>Ann/Block
menu can be used to filter announcement spots by spotter and spotting
node. Sysops can use this feature to filter
stations making announcements in languages other than their native
language.
Regional announcements are used to make directed
announcements to participating AR-Cluster nodes and participating users. In the state of Texas, the following
AR-Cluster nodes participate in regional announcements.
Austin: K5AB, K5NA and AB5K
Chandler: N1EW
Dallas/FortWorth: K5UTD
Houston: K5LV
Midland: WF5E
San Antonio: KA5EYH-2 and W5BE
The following regions are defined in Texas:
AUS or CTDXCC = Austin
STX = Austin, San Antonio and
Houston
NTX = Dallas/Forth Worth,
Midland and Chandler
TX = All of the above
K5 = All nodes in the 5th
call area
If an Austin user does an A/AUS MESSAGE, the command will
be routed only to the three Austin nodes.
If an Austin user does an A/STX MESSAGE the message will be routed to
the Austin, San Antonio and Houston nodes.
The A/TX MESSAGE has greater coverage and will route to all
participating nodes in the state of Texas.
Examples:
announce/aus hello austin
announce/tx anyone in texas hearing the weak cw on 1833?
Setup of regional announcements requires setting the
Inbound Routing, the Outbound Routing and the User Routing.
Inbound Routing Configuration:
The Cfg>NodeStation Area Qualifiers text box sets the
inbound area announcement tags that your node responds to. The nodes in Texas configure Inbound Routing
as follows:
Austin: AUS,CTDXCC,STX,TX,K5
Chandler: NTX,TX,K5
Dallas/FortWorth: NTX,TX,K5
Houston: STX,TX,K5
Midland: NTX,TX,K5
San Antonio: STX,TX,K5
Outbound Routing Configuration:
In Cfg>Nodes dialog we select each node we connect to
and set the routing of outbound regional announcements as follows. Since the Texas nodes normally connect to
AB5K the routing is shown from AB5K to each area and back, however you should
configure outbound routing to any combination that you might connect to. The routing from each area to AB5K looks
like:
Austin <> AB5K: AUS,CTDXCC,STX,TX,K5
Chandler <> AB5K: NTX,TX,K5
Dallas/FortWorth <>
AB5K: NTX,TX,K5
Houston <> AB5K: STX,TX,K5
Midland <> AB5K: NTX,TX,K5
San Antonio <> AB5K: STX,TX,K5
And the routing from AB5K is set the same way as follows:
AB5K <> Austin: AUS,CTDXCC,STX,TX,K5
AB5K <> Chandler: NTX,TX,K5
AB5K <> Dallas/FortWorth: NTX,TX,K5
AB5K <> Houston: STX,TX,K5
AB5K <> Midland: NTX,TX,K5
AB5K <>San Antonio: STX,TX,K5
User Routing:
User routing is used to send regional announcement
messages to participating users. The
main reason is to not dump regional chatter to users who telnet in from outside
areas. User routing is controlled by
the sysop in the Cfg>User(Local) dialog in the Regional Ann Filters text
box. For local users in each of the
Texas regions it’s set as follows:
Austin: AUS,CTDXCC,STX,TX,K5
Chandler: NTX,TX,K5
Dallas/FortWorth: NTX,TX,K5
Houston: STX,TX,K5
Midland: NTX,TX,K5
San Antonio: STX,TX,K5
Announcement Types:
In
addition to local announcements, there are three other regional announcements
that are sent across the network. These
announcements are also implemented as Regional Announcements and have to be
routed with the inbound routing, the outbound routing and the user routing as
described above. The node that you
connect to may also have to setup routing of the regional announcements to you.
Examples:
solar – Solar announcements WWV numbers and flare reports
(Thanks to K1TTT for sourcing this information)
50prop – DXWorld
50Prop six meter announcements
mband - DXWorld
Magic-Band six meter announcements