              USER GUIDE FOR TheNet X-1J release 4

This  brief  note  is  intended for users  of  TheNet  X-1J,  and 
explains the basic commands. Configuration and sysop features are 
not covered fully.

TheNet X-1J is an extension of TheNet 1, and provides a number of 
new features.

The switch provides the following user commands :

	Connect
	Info
	Nodes
	Routes
	Users
	Talk
	CQ
	BBS
	Host
	MHeard
	Bye
	DXcluster
	IProute
	ARP
	QUIT
	ADC

Not  all  commands  may be available on  every  node  as  certain 
commands might have been disabled. If a command has been enabled, 
it  will  be displayed when you type an invalid command  such  as 
'?'. In  addition, there are some commands that are available but 
are not usually displayed. The main ones of interest are :

	Links
	Mode
	Parms
        Stats
	IPAddress
	DXCAlias
	BBSAlias
	HostAlias
	MTU
	L3MHeard

The Sysop may have customised the command list according to local 
needs.

In  general, commands take parameters, for example to connect  to 
GB7MXM,  the command to be entered is CONNECT GB7MXM followed  by 
return. Usually, commands are not case sensitive, ( although node 
aliases may be ) and commands may be abbreviated.

Connect

If  the connect command is given on its own, then  assuming  that 
the sysop has set it up correctly, you will get connected to  the 
local BBS.

If  you  give another callsign, either of a local  station  or  a 
node, the node will attempt to connect you to that station either 
by   a  level  4  connection  or  by  downlinking.  If  you   are 
downlinking, you may also specify digipeaters.

In  either case, you get either a connected message or a  message 
telling  you  of the failure to connect. If you enter  any  other 
command at this stage, the connection attempt will be aborted.

If  you  attempt  to downlink with  digipeating,  or  attempt  to 
downlink  to  an invalid callsign such as a node  alias  with  an 
SSID, you may get an error message depending on how the Sysop has 
configured the node.

Finally,  if  you connect to the node, then  connect  to  another 
station, and that station disconnects you ( e.g. connect to a BBS 
and  use  the  'Bye' command of the BBS ), you  will  either  get 
reconnected  to the node or disconnected completely depending  on 
the configuration of the node.

If  you enter a node alias and get an 'invalid call' message,  it 
can  either  be because the node is not recognised or it  can  be 
because the Sysop has made node aliases case sensitive.

Info 

This command gives information about the node as a combination of 
a message stored in the EPROM and a message entered by the Sysop.

Nodes

This command gives information about the distant nodes that  this 
node thinks it can get to. With no parameter, it shows the  alias 
and  callsign  of all the nodes except those staring with  a  '#' 
character.  If a parameter of '*' is given, those 'hidden'  nodes 
will also be shown.

If  a callsign or alias is given that the node does not know,  it 
gives an error message. If the callsign or alias of a known  node 
is  given,  the node gives details of the routes it  knows  about 
that  lead to that destination. The display shows one option  per 
line,  each of which consists of the path  quality,  obsolescence 
count and port followed by the callsign of the neighbour. If  any 
route  is  in  use, a chevron is shown  against  the  appropriate 
entry.

If so configured by the Sysop, 'Slime trails' i.e. nodes  without 
aliases that have not been the subject of a valid node broadcast, 
may be omitted from the nodes list.

Routes

This command gives information about the neighbouring nodes  that 
can  be  heard. For each neighbour, the display  shows  the  port 
number,  the callsign, the path quality and the number  of  nodes 
accessible  through this neighbour. If a route has been  'locked' 
by the sysop, then a '!'  character is shown after an entry.  The 
sysop  may have configured the node to display nodes as  callsign 
or  as alias:callsign. If so configured, then if a node is  shown 
as  a callsign alone it means that is it not currently  reachable 
as its node broadcasts are not being received.

Users

This  shows who is using the node. It does not show  other  nodes 
that  are  using the node as a level 3 relay, nor  does  it  show 
those  users  who have connected to the node but  otherwise  have 
done nothing.

The  display  shows the through connections,  followed  by  those 
users  who are connected to the switch and 'idle'. It also  shows 
those  users who are connected to the conferencing facility.  The 
latter  stations  are  shown connected to  a  destination  called 
'Talk', whilst in the case of connections, the two endpoints  are 
shown. For connections, two symbols are used, '<-->' and  '<..>'. 
The former is used for established connections whilst the  latter 
is used for connections being established.

When  a through connection is established, the "<-->" symbol  may 
be  modified if one or other circuit is choked. In this  version, 
the  '-' characters will be replaced by another character if  one 
or  other link is choked. The first '-' character  is  associated 
with  the left hand connection ( circuit or uplink ). The  second 
with the other circuit or downlink. A link is 'choked' if one end 
or  the other has signalled that it cannot at the  moment  accept 
more  data and wishes the sender to pause. It is designed  to  be 
used by the sysop in locating network congestion problems.

For  a level 2 uplink or downlink, the "-" is replaced by 'C'  if 
the  connection  is choked. For Level 4 connections, the  "-"  is 
replaced  by  one of 3 characters, "R" if it is choked  from  the 
other  end,  "L" if it is choked from this end or "C"  if  it  is 
choked from both ends !.


Talk

The  Talk  command allows a group of users to hold  a  conference 
call. It also allows a user to send a message to another user  of 
the node provided that user is connected to the switch but is not 
patched through to another station and is not currently trying to 
connect to another station.

A user enters the conference by giving the command 'talk'. He/she 
gets a message informing them of this and reminding them that the 
command  to  escape from the talk command is '/exit'.  Any  other 
users  currently  in the conference get a message from  the  node 
telling them of the callsign of the user who has joined them.  At 
this point, every line sent by a user in the conference is copied 
to all other users in the conference, preceded by their callsign.

To  exit from the conference, the command '/exit' is  used.  This 
causes a response message to be sent to the user, and at the same 
time  all of those left in the conference get a message from  the 
node telling them of the station who has left the conference.  If 
you  force a disconnect, the other stations are not told of  your 
departure.

A  string  of text may be entered on the same line  as  the  talk 
command  when the command is given. If this is done,  before  the 
user is connected to the conference, that string of text is  sent 
to all the other users of the node who appear in the 'user'  list 
but are not connected to anything else. For example if GxABC were 
to type :

     TALK GyXYZ, Hello fred can I have a chat - type TALK

then  other users of the node ( including presumably Fred,  would 
get the message :

     GxABC>> GyXYZ. Hello fred can I have a chat - type TALK

on  their screens. The only exception to this is that sysops  are 
not sent the message.

Note that the TALK command will pass 8 bit data if set to by  the 
Sysop.

CQ

This command is used to broadcast a CQ message. In addition,  the 
fact  that you are calling CQ is indicated in the USER list.  The 
callsign will be your own with a different SSID, and anyone  else 
can  connect  to  you  by connecting to  the  callsign  with  the 
appropriate SSID.

The CQ remains 'primed' for a while, and if any other command  is 
given to the node the CQ will be cancelled.

BBS

When  you  issue  the BBS command, assuming that  the  sysop  has 
configured it, you will be connected to the local BBS.

If you enter the command 'BBS ?', then the current setting of the 
BBS will be displayed.

Host

The HOST command operates just like the BBS command. It may  have 
been  disabled by the sysop, it may have been set to  connect  to 
the  same station as the BBS, or it may have been set to  connect 
to another host system.

If  you enter the command 'HOST ?', then the current  setting  of 
the HOST will be displayed. MHeard

If enabled, the heard list shows the last few stations heard. The 
number of entries is limited and set by the sysop so any stations 
not  heard for a while may get pushed out of the list  by  others 
heard. Assuming that a station is not pushed out in this  manner, 
the  display shows the number of packets heard from that  station 
since  it  appeared in the list and the time since  it  was  last 
heard.  The  time is hours, minutes and seconds.  The  list  also 
shows  the  port on which the station was heard ( port 0  is  the 
radio  port  ), and if it hears IP frames or Net/Rom  frames,  it 
adds  a note to show that the station is a node and/or  a  TCP/IP 
station.

If the list is long enough so that a station is not heard for  12 
hours, it will get deleted anyway.

The list may also show a column headed 'Dev.'. This will only  be 
present  where the sysop has added to the node a  small  hardware 
board   that   measures   the  received   signal   audio   level. 
Specifically, it gives an indication of the peak audio level.  By 
means of a software configuration control and prior  calibration, 
this  gets  converted  into an  indication  of  the  transmitting 
station's  signal deviation. It does this by sampling  the  audio 
level after every valid packet.

Care  must be taken over its interpretation. It does not  measure 
independently  the two tone levels - it is assumed that  whatever 
local standards that relate to pre-emphasis ( i.e. use it or  not 
) have been implemented.

Often,  packet stations are set up, and the audio  level  tweaked 
until it appears to work reasonably error free. The idea of  this 
add-on  is that, having done that, you then connect to  the  node 
and  display the heard list to see an indication of  your  actual 
deviation.  It may then be fine tuned to set it correctly.  Local 
advice  must be taken over the correct setting as it  depends  on 
the channel spacing being used ( e.g. 12.5, 25 or other KHz ).

The meter will give the wrong answer on the following  conditions 

*	A badly distorted audio signal
*	Badly off frequency
*	Incorrect adherence to local pre-emphasis standards
*	A noisy signal

If  you  connect,  then correct your  deviation  to  the  correct 
display then find performance has deteriorated, it indicates  one 
of the above problems. It is not that the meter doesn't work,  it 
is an indication of a fault elsewhere.

It  is  in  your own interest for those around  you  to  use  the 
correct deviation. The list also allows you to see the  deviation 
of  others  -  so apply peer pressure if someone  over  or  under 
deviates.  Remember it is NOT a case of the higher or  the  lower 
the better - it is having the setting RIGHT.

The  system  may also be used to migrate users  towards  a  lower 
deviation in advance of moving to narrower channel spacing.

The  heard list may also show received signal strength. It  shows 
how  strong  each station is at the receiver.  The  display  will 
either be in dBm format or in the familiar 'S1 to S9' format ( or 
'S9+'  for big signals ). To understand this properly  will  need 
some guidance from the sysop. By looking at the METER  parameters 
you can find the noise floor in dBm, and if the display is in dBm 
can  subtract  one from the other to find out how  much  stronger 
your signal is than it needs to be. How accurate this is  depends 
on the radio and its calibration. It could be as close as +- 1 dB 
or it could be wildly wrong.

Links

The LINKS command shows the level 2 connections to the node. This 
is  usually  of academic interest, but I use it in  testing.  The 
display  shows the links, one per line, with the  two  callsigns, 
the  link  state,  the  port number and  the  current  number  of 
retries.

Mode

The  MODE  command is a bit like the PARMS command.  It  shows  a 
number of additional parameters. These are as follows as shown by 
example :

     MODE
     THENET:G8KBB-5> 0 1800 6 3 2 20 0 600 2 900 1 31 0 1 1 0 0

with the following meanings :

0	Host mode protocol ( 0 = standard, 1 = DCD mode )
1800	CWID period. Delay in seconds between CWID
6	CWID speed 10's of msec per dot. 6 equals 20 wpm
3	Enable / disable nodes broadcasts mask.
2	RS232 protocol, 0 = crosslink, 1,2 or 3 are KISS
20	TxDelay in 10's of milliseconds ( Centiseconds ?? )
0	Full duplex control. 0 equals simplex
600	RS232 port nodes broadcast interval in seconds
2	Nodes broadcast algorithm port mask
900	Beacon period in seconds
1	'connect' redirector. 0 is to HOST, 1 is to BBS, 2 is  to 
        DXCluster
31   	Each bit controls one of the 'user' help messages, 8  bit 
        TALK, case sensitivity & TexNet i/f
0    	This byte controls the broadcasting of 'hash' nodes
1    	This byte enables / disables the extra alias operation
1	If  set to '1', a remote disconnect on  a  circuit  will 
        cause a node reconnection
0	The bits of this controls the operation of the node  with 
        regard to 'slime trails'
0	The  bits  of  this control  whether  digi  uplinks  and 
        downlinks are permitted
 
If  you want additional details, ask the sysop for a copy of  the 
overview guide.


Parms

This  shows  the node parameters as per TheNet 1.01 (  I  am  not 
going to list them again here. Sorry ).

Bye and Quit

These  commands disconnects you from the node, closing the  link. 
It  says  goodbye  before disconnecting you if  it  has  been  so 
configured by the sysop. Quit does just the same as Bye does.

DXcluster

If  there  is  a  local DXcluster, this  command  may  have  been 
configured  by  the  sysop to connect you  to  it.  It  therefore 
operates in a manner very similar to the BBS command.

Stats

The stats command gives lots of data about the node operation.  A 
full description of the information is contained in the  overview 
document.

IProute

This  command  is  used by the sysop to configure  the  IP  route 
table. It may also be used to display the router table.

Arp

This command is similar to the IProute command, but shows the Arp 
table.  The Arp table provides a translation from IP  address  to 
callsign.  The final column, if present, contains the  ARP  timer 
values  for  each entry. This is for entries  made  automatically 
from ARP protocol messages. The timer is in minutes and the entry 
will be deleted when it reaches zero. Note that the node does not 
queue frames for transmission whilst awaiting ARP resolution.  If 
you PING the node and it generates an ARP request, you will get a 
response the NEXT time you PING the node as it will have  deleted 
the first request.

IPaddress

This  command  is  used to set or display  the  current  node  IP 
address.

BBSAlias
HostAlias
DXCAlias

These  commands are used to set additional aliases for the  node. 
It  can be configured by the sysop to accept connect  requests  ( 
uplinks ) to the node callsign, the node alias, or the 3  aliases 
shown  by these commands. When the node accepts a  connection  to 
one of these aliases, it will immediately invoke the BBS, DXC  or 
HOST commands for you. The way this would normally be used is  as 
follows.  Suppose  your  local  (  for  example  )  BBS  was  not 
accessible  on the frequency that the node operates on.  The  BBS 
alias can be configured to provide easy access across other nodes 
to  the BBS. Hence in the case of the Ipswich nodes, GB7MXM  does 
not have a port on 144.650, but the node IPS2 on 144.650 can  get 
to  it by means of another node and a 9600 baud link. If IPS2  is 
set  to  accept  the extra aliases, and if  BBSAlias  is  set  to 
MXMBBS, then anyone who tries to uplink to MXMBBS in the  Ipswich 
area would be automatically connected to GB7MXM. It goes  without 
saying  that if GB7MXM had a port on 144.650 itself,  then  chaos 
would ensue. 

MTU

This  command allows configuration of the MTUs for IP users.  The 
parameters have the following meanings :

Parameter	Default		Controls
=============================================================
     1		256		The MTU for the radio port, AX.25 encapsulation
     2		256		The MTU for the RS232 port, AX.25 encapsulation
     3		236		The MTU for the Net/Rom encapsulation
     4		257		The maximum number of data bytes in a received L2 frame
     5		328		The maximum number of bytes in a received L2 frame

For  more  details  on  the IP  router,  consult  the  'overview' 
document.

ADC

This  command  is used to read up to 4 channels  of  DC  voltage. 
Whether they are enabled, and what they read is a local  decision 
by the Sysop.

L3MHEARD

This  is another heard list. It records the identities  of  nodes 
that gateway Net/Rom frames through this node, together with data 
such  as the number of frames sent, port, time since  last  heard 
and last destination node.


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