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.
- -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.
- -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.
- -and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ...
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-show/filter
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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.
- -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)
- -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 ...
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-accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
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-then you will ONLY get VHF spots from or to CQ zones -14, 15 and 16.
- -If you set a reject filter like this ...
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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 ...
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-reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
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-But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
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-accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
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-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!
- -You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own -understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
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-reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
-reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
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-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.
- -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.
- -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 ...
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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 ...
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-reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
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-would redefine our earlier example, or
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-clear/spots 1
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-To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
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-clear/spots all
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-You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the -various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
- -Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment.
- -The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU -can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
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-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)
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-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.
- -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.
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