Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters. From -v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set filters for just -about anything you wish. If you have just updated from an older version of -DXSpider you will need to update your new filters. You do not need to do -anything with your old filters, they will be renamed as you update. -
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There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These -are accept, reject and clear. First we will look -generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in the -DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism. -
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In general terms you can create a 'reject' or an 'accept' filter which can have -up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ... -
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-accept/spots .....
-reject/spots .....
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-where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There are filters -for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects. See each different -accept or reject command reference for more details. -
There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ... -
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-clear/spots 1
-clear/spots all
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-There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter. -
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and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ... +
Filters can be set for spots, announcements and WWV. You will find the +directories for these under /spider/filter. You will find some examples in +the directories with the suffix .issue. There are two types of +filter, one for incoming information and one for outgoing information. +Outgoing filters are in the form CALLSIGN.pl and incoming filters +are in the form in_CALLSIGN.pl. Filters can be set for both nodes +and users. +
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All filters work in basically the same way. There are several elements +delimited by commas. There can be many lines in the filter and they are +read from the top by the program. When writing a filter you need to think +carefully about just what you want to achieve. You are either going to write +a filter to accept or to reject. Think of a filter as +having 2 main elements. For a reject filter, you would have a line or multiple +lines rejecting the things you do not wish to receive and then a default line +accepting everything else that is not included in the filter. Likewise, for an +accept filter, you would have a line or multiple lines accepting the things you +wish to receive and a default line rejecting everthing else. +
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In the example below, a user requires a filter that would only return SSB spots +posted in Europe on the HF bands. This is achieved by first rejecting the CW +section of each HF band and rejecting all of VHF, UHF etc based on frequency. +Secondly, a filter rule is set based on CQ zones to only accept spots posted in +Europe. Lastly, a default filter rule is set to reject anything outside the filter.
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-show/filter
+$in = [
+ [ 0, 0, 'r', # reject all CW spots
+ [
+ 1800.0, 1850.0,
+ 3500.0, 3600.0,
+ 7000.0, 7040.0,
+ 14000.0, 14100.0,
+ 18068.0, 18110.0,
+ 21000.0, 21150.0,
+ 24890.0, 24930.0,
+ 28000.0, 28180.0,
+ 30000.0, 49000000000.0,
+ ] ,1 ],
+ [ 1, 11, 'n', [ 14, 15, 16, 20, 33, ], 15 ], #accept EU
+ [ 0, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else
+];
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For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same -principles to all types of filter. +
The actual elements of each filter are described more fully in the following +sections.
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There are two main types of filter, accept or reject. You -can use either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference -and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of reject -filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each filter has 10 -lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a line matches then the -action you have specified is taken (ie reject means ignore it and accept -means take it) -
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If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match the filter -will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use an accept filter, -then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted and all else will be dumped. -For example if you have a single line accept filter ... +
The elements of the Spot filter are ....
-accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+[action, field_no, sort, possible_values, hops]
then you will ONLY get VHF spots from or to CQ zones -14, 15 and 16.
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If you set a reject filter like this ... +
There are 3 elements here to look at. Firstly, the action element. This is +very simple and only 2 possible states exist, accept (1) or drop (0).
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-reject/spots on hf/cw
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-Then you will get everything EXCEPT HF CW spots. You could make this -single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested in IOTA -and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not interested in -CW, then you could say ... +
The second element is the field_no. There are 13 possiblities to choose from +here ....
-reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
+ 0 = frequency
+ 1 = call
+ 2 = date in unix format
+ 3 = comment
+ 4 = spotter
+ 5 = spotted dxcc country
+ 6 = spotter's dxcc country
+ 7 = origin
+ 8 = spotted itu
+ 9 = spotted cq
+ 10 = spotter's itu
+ 11 = spotter's cq
+ 12 = callsign of the channel on which the spot has appeared
But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:- +
+
The third element tells us what to expect in the fourth element. There are +4 possibilities ....
-accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
+ n - numeric list of numbers e.g. [ 1,2,3 ]
+ r - ranges of pairs of numbers e.g. between 2 and 4 or 10 to 17 - [ 2,4, 10,17 ]
+ a - an alphanumeric regex
+ d - the default rule
which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the other -until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix them if you -wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the same line) but -don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you are doing!
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You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own -understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ... +
The fifth element is simply the hops to set in this filter. This would only +be used if the filter was for a node of course and overrides the hop count in +hop_table.pl. +
+
So, let's look at an example spot filter. It does not matter in the example +who the filter is to be used for. So, what do we need in the filter? We need +to filter the spots the user/node requires and also set a default rule for +anything else outside the filter. Below is a simple filter that stops spots +arriving from outside Europe.
-reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
-reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+$in = [
+ [ 0, 4, 'a', '^(K|N|A|W|VE|VA|J)'], # 0 = drop, 'a' = alphanumeric
+ [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 1 ], # 1 = want, 'd' = everything else
+ ];
What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots on VHF -which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe.
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This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this case), if -you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits '0'-'9' are available. -This make it easier to see just what filters you have set. It also makes it -more simple to remove individual filters, during a contest for example. +
So the filter is wrapped in between a pair of square brackets. This tells +Spider to look in between these limits. Then each line is contained within +its own square brackets and ends with a comma. Lets look carefully at the first +line. The first element is 0 (drop). Therefore anything we put on this line +will not be accepted. The next element is 4. This means we are filtering by +the spotter. The third element is the letter "a" which tells the program to +expect an alphanumeric expression in the fourth element. The fourth element +is a list of letters separated by the pipe symbol.
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You will notice in the above example that the second line has brackets. Look -at the line logically. You can see there are 2 separate sections to it. We -are saying reject spots that are VHF or above APART from those in -zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or originated there). If you did -not have the brackets to separate the 2 sections, then Spider would read it -logically from the front and see a different expression entirely ... +
What this line does is tell the program to drop any spots posted by anyone in +the USA, Canada or Japan.
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-(on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
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-The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets. Whilst we are -here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the same as 'and by_zone'. -
As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible than -simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that if you want -to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one or more lines of it or -one line. For example ... +
The second line is the default rule for anything else. The "d" tells us this +and the line simply reads... accept anything else.
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-reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
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-would redefine our earlier example, or +
You can add as many lines as you need to complete the filter but if there are +several lines of the same type it is neater to enclose them all as one line. +An example of this is where specific bands are set. We could write this like +this ....
-clear/spots 1
+[ 0,0,'r',[1800.0, 2000.0], 1],
+[ 0,0,'r',[10100.0, 10150.0], 1],
+[ 0,0,'r',[14000.0, 14350.0], 1],
+[ 0,0,'r',[18000.0, 18200.0], 1],
To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ... +
+
But the line below achieves the same thing and is more efficient ....
-clear/spots all
+ [ 0, 0, 'r',
+ [
+ 1800.0, 2000.0, # top band
+ 10100.0, 10150.0, # WARC
+ 14000.0, 14350.0, # 20m
+ 18000.0, 18200.0, # WARC
+ [ ,1 ],
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You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the -various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
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Sometimes all that is needed is a general rule for node connects. This can -be done with a node_default filter. This rule will always be followed, even -if the link is isolated, unless another filter is set specifically. Default -rules can be set for nodes and users. They can be set for spots, announces, -WWV and WCY. They can also be used for hops. An example might look like -this ...
-accept/spot node_default by_zone 14,15,16,20,33
-set/hops node_default spot 50
+
+# This is an example announce or filter allowing only West EU announces
+#
+# The element list is:-
+# 0 - callsign of announcer
+# 1 - destination * = all, <callsign> = routed to the node
+# 2 - text
+# 3 - * - sysop, <some text> - special list eg 6MUK, ' ', normal announce
+# 4 - origin
+# 5 - 0 - announce, 1 - wx
+# 6 - channel callsign (the interface from which this spot came)
+
+$in = [
+ [ 1, 0, 'a', '^(P[ABCDE]|DK0WCY|G|M|2|EI|F|ON)' ],
+ [ 0, 0, 'd', 0 ]
+];
This filter is for spots only, you could set others for announce, WWV and WCY. -This filter would work for ALL nodes unless a specific filter is written to -override it for a particular node. You can also set a user_default should -you require. It is important to note that default filters should be -considered to be "connected". By this I mean that should you override the -default filter for spots, you need to add a rule for the hops for spots also. -
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In this example, only the prefixes listed will be allowed. It is possible to +be quite specific. The Dutch prefix "P" is followed by several secondary +identifiers which are allowed. So, in the example, "PA" or "PE" would be ok +but not "PG". It is even possible to allow information from a single callsign. +In the example this is DK0WCY, to allow the posting of his Aurora Beacon. +
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Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment. -
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The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU -can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
-rej/spot on hf/cw
-acc/spot on 0/30000
-acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+
+# This is an example WWV filter
+#
+# The element list is:-
+# 0 - nominal unix date of spot (ie the day + hour:13)
+# 1 - the hour
+# 2 - SFI
+# 3 - K
+# 4 - I
+# 5 - text
+# 6 - spotter
+# 7 - origin
+# 8 - incoming interface callsign
+
+# this one doesn't filter, it just sets the hop count to 6 and is
+# used mainly just to override any isolation from WWV coming from
+# the internet.
+
+$in = [
+ [ 1, 0, 'd', 0, 6 ]
+];
Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This will -automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have said reject all -HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept all others at HF. Also -accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or by operators in the zones -14, 15 and 16. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and -an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot. -
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It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match, the default -for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for 'accept'. In the example -what happens is that the reject is executed first, any non hf/cw spot is passed -to the accept line, which lets through everything else on HF. The next filter line -lets through just VHF/UHF spots from EU.
+
It should be noted that the filter will start to be used only once a user/node +has logged out and back in again. +
I am not going to spend any more time on these filters now as they will become +more "comprehensive" in the near future.