[SFDXA] Excellent Description of DX Clusters and Usage

[Bill]

*Introduction and Brief History to DX Clusters*
I often get questions about the use of DX cluster connections.  There’s 
a lot of misinformation out there.  The purpose of this newsletter is to 
explain a bit more about DX clusters.  This will help you get the best 
out of your DXing.  Understanding how DX clusters work will enable you 
to get the best out of the DX aspects of amateur radio.
The purpose of a DX cluster is to alert interested hams (DXers) that 
there’s a DX station on-the-air.
Before there were DX cluster nodes available, hams alerted each other by 
using a technique called “the two-ringer.”  When this was used, a ham 
would call his buddy and hang up on the second ring.  This alerted the 
buddy that there was DX on-the-air.  But what?  And where?  A few hams 
in the area would begin to gather on a local VHF repeater or simplex 
frequency and this is where the information was provided.  “Hey guys, I 
just worked King Hussein, JY1, on 14.175 MHz!”
I’m pausing for a moment to point something out.  That is – this 
information has now been shared with how many hams?  Three?  Five?  
Maybe ten?  Top end, fifteen?  I’ll get back to this point about 
coverage area later in this newsletter.  It’s an important point.
Eventually, software was created that allowed hams to connect over a VHF 
frequency (if I remember correctly, it was something like 144.95 MHz; if 
not, I’m close).  The connection was a telnet connection.  Now, the 
number of connected stations began to increase.  Now, several dozen hams 
in a local area could connect and share DX information.  The 
“two-ringer” was gone.
Soon, the software was capable of connecting to other (peer) nodes over 
the Internet.  At first, some hams resisted this.  “The Internet is not 
ham radio.” (Neither was the telephone connection used for the 
“two-ringer.)  But now, spots were propagated between DX cluster nodes.  
Information was now shared between hundreds of hams.
Once broadband Internet service became widely available, it was no 
longer necessary to use VHF for the connections.  Now, hams could 
connect over a telnet connection over the Internet.  Now, information 
could be shared between thousands of hams.  This is accomplished when DX 
cluster “nodes” are connected together as “peers” across the Internet.
DX Cluster node software developed into the three most popular types – 
AR Cluster was the early favorite.  Later came DX Spider and CC 
Cluster.  While each type had some minor differences, standards 
developed that enabled spots to be propagated between them.  For 
connected hams, there’s not a great deal of difference in the node 
software itself.  Other considerations are more important.
*Coverage Area*
Through all of this, one thing is clear.  That is – the more hams that 
are sharing DX information, the better.
Someone recently said, “When I submit a spot, I don’t see it on my 
favorite Internet site. Why?”
This ham received a response that said, “Your spots are only displayed 
on the node you’re connected to.”
In most cases, this is not true. In fact, if it were true, then it would 
defeat the purpose of all the advancements I referenced in the 
introduction about expanding the coverage area of the DX cluster 
system.  Right?
Still, there are a couple valid reasons why a spot sent on a given DX 
cluster node would not be seen on systems on the Internet.  One – the 
system could be filtering spots such that they were prevented from 
propagating outbound.  Likewise, an Internet system that displays spots 
could be filtering spots inbound.  And two – the DX cluster node that 
the spots are being sent from are not connected to any peer nodes.
The latter is an important point to consider.  That is – if you’re 
connecting to a DX cluster node that is not connected to any other 
cluster nodes, then it’s no different than the original VHF cluster 
systems that only propagated spots to local connected stations.  It’s 
only slightly better than “the two-ringer.”
I hear hams say, “I connect to my buddy’s DX cluster node.”  Okay, 
wonderful.  How many peer nodes is he connected to?  How many users 
connect locally?  How many are connected across the system?  Is his DX 
cluster node running on a server that employs high-availability methods 
to make sure that it’s always available?
Does it matter?  Absolutely!  If you’re connecting to a DX cluster node 
that is not connect to other peer nodes, then you won’t receive spots 
from outside that node and no one will see the spots you’re sending.
Coverage area of the DX cluster system you connect to is the PRIMARY 
concern.  The secondary concern is availability.
Some hams tell me, “I have no idea what DX cluster to connect to.  So, I 
randomly connect to various clusters to see what spots other clusters 
have to offer.”
Okay.  This is only necessary if either (a) you’re connecting to 
clusters that are not connected to many peer nodes or (b) you have no 
idea how all this works.
Let me save you some time and effort.
*Selection*
So far, we’ve identified two important things to consider when looking 
for a DX cluster node to connect to – peer node connections and node 
availability.  I would go so far as to say that the first item is 
“significant peer nodes.”  That is – there’s less benefit to connecting 
to 24 peer nodes that have five users in New England and being connected 
to 24 peer nodes from around the world that had several thousands of 
connected users.  After all, this is “crowd-sourcing.”  We need to 
maximize the crowd.
In order find a “well-connected” cluster, there’s a website that you may 
want to consider.  Go to http://www.hamcluster.net 
<http://links.hrdsoftwarellc.com/wf/click?upn=UFL8zxvF9LL8R-2FM-2BX9ojPXa8lO6HgpsoVtIxXqD7sS99-2BsLeP7MxBKDF3V7G1UzK_iHTyBLDFgYMbY2cKnIhC7mtkylVEN6ygwk5GFMEl-2BeULz7xtRfIbXfTnzhBHQOh5RekLqxsGtgP0y04zMKfKtzssSZ24nvvHitnMmltu6u-2FCxtG-2BwwSCJ8r6xlRlf55XGK1RLwfRvTo5YlxRyJNNH0pOn3va1K3ulTJdwBOG470ZEW4xZIqs0rJof-2BN1ewdrTWm-2BGRt8PCLDP4KuO4ZOcWhvmeDaiZVXDFUgrDdNpAXIDeeyqiRs4DVcC5nyZxqaGGCw735qk98SbcmbxMwdnRuZrE8Cd2UITGhvsCbP7FCToSV0bSaO0NwrjFP5AaHzvHZk0vqQODYEtE-2Fach5ZIQf9nn59ELJ1fFpgwHcI60JsrXtbPN9qmd80nPArMe92hIpmKLUtUBix4OVIceMQ-2FW9U9jrghnQNFTvLPaWmJPMqO-2FwieZ67-2FR5rUIXuTUlk>and 
you’ll see a map of the world.  Most of the time, it begins in Italy.  
Drag the map to your area of the world.  Find a cluster node that’s near 
you or looks familiar.  Click it (once).  What does it say?  How many 
“links” (peer nodes) does it have?  How long has it been up without failure?
I’m not writing this newsletter to promote my DX cluster, but it’s been 
up without downtime for 513 days.  According to hamcluster.net, my node 
has 16 links (peer nodes).  I’m not sure why, but hamcluster.net has a 
top-end figure of 16 for DX Spider nodes.  So let’s see how many peers 
that WA9PIE-2 really has.  We can do that by typing “show/uptime” at a 
console prompt on a DX Spider node.  For my node, you’ll see this:
This data was collected on a Thursday.  It’s not the busiest day for DX 
connections.  There are 286 hams connected directly to WA9PIE-2 and 
3,263 hams connected to the extended network.  Instead of the 16 nodes 
shown by hamcluster.net, there are actually 24 nodes connected. These 
nodes are connected from around the world.  In fact, these are the 
highest volume DX cluster nodes in their respective areas of the world.  
And because WA9PIE-2 doesn’t filter spots inbound or outbound, all spots 
available to propagate worldwide flow through WA9PIE-2.
Another thing that’s useful is to type “show/users” at the command 
prompt.  You’ll see the callsigns for all the connected hams.  There’s 
really not enough space to show you the results here, but there are 286 
hams connected now.  On a busy weekend, there are over 1,000 hams 
connected directly and 10,000 hams connected worldwide.  Try typing 
“show/config” at a console prompt, you’ll get a big list of all nodes 
and users connected.  [In Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook, getting to the 
“Console” is a matter of dropping down the “Show” dropdown and switching 
from “Spots” to “Console”.  Don’t forget to switch back.]
If you try this on your node and you don’t see lots of users and peer 
nodes, you need to leave that node and find another one.  Your buddy’s 
node serves no one if there’s no one else connecting.
Yes, WA9PIE-2 is a high-volume global spotting network.  It’s not 
necessary to use Ham Radio Deluxe in order to connect to it.  Anyone who 
can setup a telnet connection to dxc.wa9pie.net on port 8000 can connect 
with whatever software they use.  WA9PIE-2 is in a Google data center in 
the central United States.  Hams from all around the world connect to it 
and share DX information.  Because WA9PIE-2 doesn’t filter spots, its’ a 
“globally local node”.  In other words, two hams in Europe connected to 
WA9PIE-2 are able to immediately see the same spots that two hams in the 
Pacific Northwest would see.
It’s worth pointing out that the VE7CC-1 cluster node is also very 
popular.  Lee lives east of Vancouver, BC and he’s the author of 
CC-Cluster and the popular CC-User software.  VE7CC-1 and WA9PIE-2 are 
directly connected and share spots unfiltered.
*Setting Up Your Connection*
Once you have selected a DX cluster node that has a broad coverage area 
and high availability, there are a few things you should consider.
The first thing you should consider is filtering spots that get 
delivered to you.  Many times hams have asked me, “Is there some way 
that Ham Radio Deluxe will filter spots coming to me from outside my 
area?”  My answer is always, “Why would you want your computer to do all 
that work when you can prevent the spots from being sent to your PC in 
the first place?”  That is – let the cluster node do that work for you, 
rather than asking your PC to do it.
There’s little benefit in seeing a DX spot from Spain in the middle of 
the afternoon in Chicago telling you that a station from Mount Athos is 
on 160m.  You won’t hear it.  As such, you should filter it from being 
sent to you.  There are a number of ways to do this.  But the easiest 
way is to send the following command to your cluster node – 
"accept/spots by_zone 3,4,5".  If you live in the United States, you 
will only see spots from CQ zones 3, 4, and 5.  (This is the way I do it 
myself.)  You can find DX cluster filtering guides on the internet.
Within Ham Radio Deluxe, make use of the “WSI filter” (Worked Status 
Indicator).  This filter will hide all the DX spots that you don’t need 
and leave only the DX spots remaining that help build your DXCC mixed, 
mode, band, or challenge totals.
*Summary*
It’s not necessary to bounce around between DX cluster nodes to “see if 
there are better spots elsewhere.”  There’s no value in connecting to 
“your buddy’s DX cluster” (or your own) if that node isn’t globally 
relevant.  Pick a DX cluster node that is a “global spotting network” 
and has high-availability.
Pick a DX cluster node that doesn’t filter spots inbound or outbound.  
But do filter the spots in your cluster connection so that you won’t see 
irrelevant spots.
This is “global crowd-sourcing” at it’s finest.  In fact, hams were 
early pioneers of crowd-sourcing.  Find a crowd.  Don’t just be a 
consumer of spots.  Send some too!
As always, feel free to share this with your friends.  I will also post 
this on our blog - along with all other newsletters - at 
https://www.Ham-Radio-Deluxe.com/blog
Thank you es 73 de Mike, WA9PIE