AR-Cluster Client
Version 6: 1 January 2012
Your options to connect into AR-Cluster are:
The fastest way to get up to speed on the AR-Cluster Client app is to watch the YouTube videos. There may be some minor differences in the operations on the video and the latest app but you can get the idea.
Here are the current client application videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tq5j20kXuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTUi4LMHvs0
The client app connects into AR-Cluster Server for its spot source.
The key to selecting a cluster is performance. With the addition of CW Skimmer spots and the Reverse Beacon Network the demands on the DX-Cluster system have increased by orders of magnitude. Existing cluster software has demonstrated scalability issues and software authors have reduced features and/or imposed spot filters just so they can keep up. The approach in AR-Cluster version 6 was to build a multi-threaded application from ground up that was optimized for the high spot volumes. Users can get 100% of the raw spotting data or apply their own filters as needed.
DXers and contesters need to know their cluster application keep up with present day loads and scale to future spot volumes. How fast is it? You do the math, in AR-Cluster, performance metrics are calculated in real time and logged in the app log. Here is a sample app log with execution timing, in seconds. Ex: [0.00081]].
It’s extremely fast. AR-Cluster has been tested at spot rates of over one million spots per hour and a CPU utilization of less than 20 percent. AR-Cluster was chosen as a key cluster technology to run on the Reverse Beacon Network. Additionally, AR-Cluster has also been used as the spot aggregator at the K3LR contest station for several years.
1. Leverages the latest technologies in software development
2. Works with skimmer spots
3. New filters that allow you to filter by anything in the spot including several new fields added by the software
4. Filtering is simple and displayed visually on the screen
5. Supports multiple DX windows with different filters per window
6. The app loads fast
7. Tested to 1,000,000 DX spots per hour
8. Multi-threaded - makes use of multi-core processors making things operate much better
9. New spot processing logic that offers huge performance increases
Installation is standard windows install process. The latest installation files can be found at:
ftp://ftp.ab5k.net/
ArCluster/Version6/LatestArcClient
Follow the following steps:
1. Download the release from the ftp
site. The AR-Cluster Client files are
zipped into a single file called ArcClient[date].zip.
2. Unzip the contents of the folder to the desktop and run the setup.exe file.
Do
a Start Programs AB5K and select AR-Cluster Client. After the application starts, do a Tools >
Settings and set your station callsign.
Spot
windows can be opened using the View menu.
Options of DX, Announce, Weather and WWV are provided along with
filtering options. If it’s the first
time to use the application, select the Open Filter option (no filtering). That will allow you to see all spots with no
filtering. Multiple windows of the
same type can be opened each with different filter strategies.
The
default opening is to place all windows in tabbed folders across the top of the
main window. See sample below.
The application supports docked windows and the windows can be dragged and docked as needed. The web cast demonstrates the docking features of AR-Cluster Client. The following sample demonstrated docking across the top and bottom of the main window.
You can also unpin the windows and have hovering windows. Hovering windows pop-up and display as the mouse rolls across their tab.
A wizard is
available to generate DX filters. Click on Filters>DX Filter Wizard and
follow the instructions on the tabs.
Rt-Clicking on the header (top) row of any
spot window will bring up a filtering popup with filter options for that
column. For example to remove the
skimmer spots from the DX spot window, rt-click on
the header column named Skimmer. To
disable skimmer spot make sure the enabled check box is unchecked. Then press the green check button. The skimmer spots will be filtered from the
DX window. See sample below.
Filters are very
easy to setup and you can have multiple filters. Here are some popular filters:
|
No Skimmer |
Skimmer column and uncheck the
enable box and save |
|
LOTW |
LOTW column and check the
LOTW checkbox and save |
|
Six Meter Spots |
Band column select “=” and
enter 6 and save |
|
Look for a specific call
like DX0DX Spratly DX-Expedition |
Call column select “=” and enter
DX0DX and save |
|
See where my buddies are
operating |
Enter the buddies in the
buddy list cfg file and on the Buddy column check
the checkbox and save |
|
Spots that originate from
North America |
SpotterCont column select “=” and enter NA |
|
Spots that originate from
the US |
SpotterCty column select “=” and enter K |
You can also have
multiple DX windows active with different filters. For example you may want a one DX window for
six meter spots, one looking for your buddies and one setup to look for an
active DX-expedition.
The three types of
data displayed in the columns are Boolean, numeric and text. The filter options automatically adjust to
the data type being displayed.
|
Data Type |
Filter Operations |
Description |
Example DX Columns |
|
Boolean |
CheckBox |
Check box matches the state
of the data in the column |
Skimmer, LOTW |
|
Numeric |
= |
Equal |
Freq |
|
|
<> |
Not equal |
|
|
|
< |
Less than |
|
|
|
> |
Greater than |
|
|
|
<= |
Less than or equal |
|
|
|
>= |
Greater than or equal |
|
|
Text |
= |
Equal |
Call, Comment |
|
|
<> |
Not equal |
|
|
|
*abc* |
Wildcard on left and right |
|
|
|
abc* |
Wildcard on right |
|
|
|
*abc |
Wildcard on left |
|
Columns can be
hidden by rt-clicking on the top left cell in the
grid. A menu will display that allows
you to hide columns. See below.
DX columns are
listed in the table below. You can
filter on any column. You can set
filters by rt-clicking on the header (top) row of a
column.
Column Name |
Description |
|
Nmbr |
Spot number |
|
Call |
Call spotted |
|
Freq |
Operating frequency |
|
Comment |
Optional comment |
|
Spotter |
Call making the spot |
|
Time |
GMT time of the spot |
|
ATNO |
All time new one |
|
BndMode |
New Band or mode country |
|
Buddy |
Call spotted is on the buddy
list |
|
LOTW |
Call spotted user Logbook of
the World |
|
Skimmer |
Machine generated spot by CW
Skimmer |
SkimDupe |
Is this a duplicate skimmer
spot |
SkimCq |
Skimmer spot with a CQ in the
comment field |
SkimDb |
Skimmer signal strength in
dB |
SkimWpm |
Skimmer reported CW speed |
InCb |
Call is in the US/FCC or VE callbooks |
Top100 |
Spot CTY is in the top 100
list |
Master |
Call is in the master callsign database for contesters |
Ham |
Indicated the spot is inside
the ham bands |
Unique |
Number of times the call has
been spotted during the last 10 minutes.
User to filter out noisy skimmer spots. |
|
Name |
Name |
|
Cont |
Continent |
|
Cty |
Country |
|
State |
State |
|
County |
County |
|
Grid |
Grid Square |
|
ArrlSec |
ARRL Section |
|
CqZone |
CQ Zone location |
|
ItuZone |
ITU Zone location |
|
Band |
Band |
|
Mode |
Operating Mode |
|
SpotterCont |
Spotter’s Continent |
|
SpotterCty |
Spotter’s Country |
|
SpotterState |
Spotter’s State |
|
SpotterCqZone |
CQ Zone location of the
spotter |
|
SpotterItuZone |
ITU Zone location of the
spotter |
|
CQ |
CQ in the comment field |
|
BOB |
Spot is on the bottom of the
band and is probably a comment |
|
SpotterNode |
The node the spot originated
from |
Announce and
weather columns are listed in the table below.
You can set filters by rt-clicking on the
header (top) row of a column.
|
Column
Name |
Description |
|
Nmbr |
Spot number |
|
To |
Message to |
|
Msg |
Announce or weather message |
|
Spotter |
Call making the announcement |
|
SpotterCont |
Spotter continent |
|
SpotterCty |
Spotter country |
|
SpotterState |
Spotter state |
|
SpotterNode |
Node that originated the
spot |
|
Time |
GMT Time the spot was sent |
WWV columns are
listed in the table below.
Column Name |
Description |
Nmbr |
Spot number |
Time |
Spot time in GMT |
Sfi |
Solar Flux Index |
A |
A-Index |
K |
K-Index |
Forecast |
Current -> future forecast |
Spotter |
Call that posted the WWV spot |
SpotterNode |
Node that posted the WWV spot |
Configuration files
are located in the Cfg/Setup folder.
|
ArcServerConnections.dat |
This file determines the AR-Cluster V6 nodes that you can connect to. There is a option in the setup to automatically update this list. |
|
Buddies.dat |
This file contains a list of your buddies. Buddies get flagged in the buddy list on the DX windows. This can be a list of club members and friends that you may want to work in a contest of just keep track of when they are operating. |
|
DXCC.dat |
This file drives the ATNO and BandMode columns of the DX window. The file is taken from DX-Labs. |
|
wl_cty.dat |
This is the country file and is automatically updated in the Tools>Update Country Info menu. You can also download and install the file manually from: http://www.country-files.com/cty/wl_cty.dat |
The All Time New One, ATNO, and the BandMode columns indicate if the spot is needed as an all time new one or a band mode spot. The file pulls the users DXCC status from the DXCC.dat located in the Cfg/Setup folder. A sample DXCC.dat file is included. The section of the file that is used starts with the Entity section. Sample below:
You can update the included file or if you run the DX Labs you can create the file automatically. In the DX Labs DxKeeper application select the Check Progress and click the DXCC Progress button. Create the file and save it as DXCC.dat and place it into the Cfg/Setup folder. The DX Labs Suite can be found at: http://www.dxlabsuite.com/
Multimedia options
are available that allows the announcement of DX spots. See Multimedia menu option.
The auto scroll
menu options can be used to turn off the auto scrolling. This is useful if you need to scroll back and
review past spots. Auto scroll can be
controlled for DX, Announce and Weather spots.
AR-Cluster client
can be embedded inside other applications.
This allows other applications to leverage cluster connectivity,
filtering and spot control. Examples
might be using AR-Cluster Client to drive a logging or contest program. Another application would be to develop a
high speed BandMap for contesting use. If you have interest in this, contact me and
I will supply source code demonstrating the AR-Cluster Client engine dll along with some sample usage. One implementation of AR-Cluster Client is
already in process and will be released at Dayton later this year.