[UK-CONTEST] DX cluster connections in the UK

[Darren GØTSM]

here's quite a good list..

http://ve9dx.weblink.nbtel.net/telnet/sites.html

Mine is there telnet://gb7edx.com

here's a few tips on finding a good one,,,

1) In Windows XP open up  command prompt box and do a: tracert 
[hostname/ip address]     eg:   tracert gb7edx.com
You'll see the route thats taken to get to the cluster, ideally the 
shorter the route the better the ping times but it doesnt always work 
out like that. One of the EA clusters is only 7 hops from me whereas 
a 'local' G cluster is over 30hops and has horrendous ping times so 
it doesnt always pay to connect locally via telnet.

2) Once you have found one with only a few 'hops' connect to it and 
try a 'SH/DX GG9GGG' or use a callsign where you would not expect to 
get any results returned. You should get a prompt back within 1-7 
seconds or a 'Nothing found', if you have to wait 45 seconds then you 
might have found a sysop who's running his cluster on a p100 he found 
in a skip. Not ideal as the pc might struggle in one of the big contests..

3) In the command prompt window again make a few telnet connections 
to various 'good ones' you have found, when you log in use an SSID, 
eg to the first cluster use CALLSIGN-1, to the second use CALLSIGN-2 
etc, and then compare the spots that you receive, they should all be 
the same and received at the near enough the same time, you'll easily 
see the missing spots or severe delays..

4) Next is to leave the connections as they are and see how long the 
connections hold up, some of my users stay connected all week.

It seems a bit silly to spend years perfecting your nice big contest 
station and then connect to any old dx cluster, you may like to 
connect to the chap down the road via telnet but will you loose the 
connection just before that winning multiplier gets spotted three 
minutes before the end of the contest?...



Darren G0TSM




At 21:05 03/09/2006, G4FNL wrote:
>Guys
>
>My normal telnet connections to the DX cluster are currently out of service.
>Have you any alternatives in the UK that you could recommend?
>
>Graham G4FNL
>
>
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