RBNHole

The system is a stop gap until we get the source from Eric’s estate. At that point we can decide how we will go forward. Until then we have a rough system that is a bit noisy but does work.

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Hi Barry,

The aim is for us to obtain Eric’s source for RBNGate and get it up and running on a proper server; thus, RBNHole can disappear into the abyss it probably deserves. Certainly redundancy is something we’ll consider.

Cheers,
Andrew

I have not used it yet but thanks in advance!

Andrew,

Wow! When it rains it pours! Today I was out on another great summit, and I got spotted like crazy on every band! I knew it immediately, because the chasers were piled up all over me within a minute of calling CQ! What an amazing experience to be up sitting in the warm sun on a snowy summit, and the receiver is just loaded with calls!

Thank you for restoring most of what we lost so quickly! Today was totally awesome! It was a quiet weekday, and those spots did the trick!

As a chaser, I think the multiple spots clutter the monitor, but that’s a minor problem! Those fast spots are key to chasing multiple stations in a short time, etc.

You definitely got results for me!

Thanks also to the many chasers who spotted me as well!

73

George
KX0R

Excellent news. Look forward to using it in anger soon. Thanks.
73
Pete

BIG thanks, Andrew! Look forward to using it on next summit.

Best,

Ken

But now, HB9BIN on two Band QRV simultaneously :confused:
20160130/14:55 and :57???

Do you want it turning off and have nothing to replace it until we can build something that works as well as the old one?

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Don’t worry, that’s all because of QRO (“parasitic oscillation”?)

Joking aside, that seems to be a completely normal QSY (correct spotted), a bit quickly perhaps because of QRM by REF Contest.

All I do is process what comes through from the RBN, so if there’s a possible misbehaviour like this, check what the RBN says first (http://www.reversebeacon.net/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=DL%2FHB9BIN%2FP&t=dx) . Or jump up on either frequency and see what is right. But having said that,

I’m pretty sure I made certain to set the expectation that this isn’t world-class, top-quality software. It’s knocked together in a day or so in my spare time, and tested for a couple of days past that, before being unleashed on an unsuspecting SOTA community.

I am unlikely to spend time fixing minor issues, so there’s not much point discussing them. However, the entire SOTA MT have access to the necessary to remove its spots if it misbehaves, but I think the service is more appreciated that unappreciated, and that something rough but providing a service is better than something that isn’t providing a service at all.

If we’re wrong on that score, by all means let us know, and we can turn it off. I’ll not take it personally. In any case, as soon as we can get Eric’s code and then get it up and running, we’ll turn off RBNHole and dance ceremoniously around a fire containing all known copies of my source.

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Are there steps that need to be taken to get RBNHole to find me?

I posted a spot for an hour in advance (not alert, but a spot). I tried calling but it never found me, I had to post each band change. Do I need to post an alert first?

BTW, I again want to thank you for filling the void, I think it is awesome that you were able to do that!

Mike
N1IDN

Thanks Mike. Yes, it needs to be an alert. I pull down the alerts only at roughly 15 minute intervals(*) and check against those.

Cheers,
Andrew

(*) Roughly, because I actually take the easy, low-CPU way out and count raw inbound RBN spots and check every 1000. This is roughly every 10-15 minutes - more during contests, less during VK hours.

However you do it, it is much appreciated.

I will start posting alerts tomorrow.

Mike
N1IDN

For my opinion, i believe only the “living-Spoters” and not the RBN-Gates. The old one and the new are often not authentic…my operating experience
So in this case you don’t have to tun it off, i only follow the spoting Chasers and all who believe in RBN-Gates shall use it.

Thanks you Andrew. Much appreciated!
73

What a difference a day makes! On Feb 9 I activated W0C/FR-050, operated CW on 5 bands, with no self-spotting; I made 47 contacts, with piles of eager chasers. On every band it just took a couple of minutes, a few CQ’s, and my chasers appeared! When things got slow, I called CQ, and more chasers called.

On Feb 10 I activated nearby W0C/FR-056, operated CW on 4 bands, with no self-spotting; I struggled to get contacts on each band. I knew I was getting out OK from my reports, who I was getting, and where they were. When I made only one contact on 30M, and only one on 15M, after numerous CQ’s, I knew something was different.

When I got home I looked at he spots, and there it was, clear as crystal - there were no RBN Hole spots for anyone during the day on Feb 10, unlike the many spots on Feb 9. The only spots I got Feb 10 on any band were from helpful chasers!

A big thank you to chasers who take the time to spot guys like me, when the RBN Hole is off! Today was so slow I figured maybe something was wrong with my site, my equipment, or solar/geomagnetic conditions. I surely hope we haven’t lost the RBN Hole, because it was doing a fine job of filling in for KU6J’s spotting program. Wow, I really felt the loss today! It was long trip on snowshoes in deep snow, and we didn’t have a whole lot of time on the summit.

Does anyone know if we will have the RBN Hole tool back?

73

KX0R

Basically it appears that the RBN shuts the connection back to RBN Hole. I’ll kick it in the pants when I log in shortly.

I did some connection longevity tests when you 1st mentioned your system. It looks like when you connect to RBN they have some kind of load-balancer which fires you off to one of many telnet servers. Sometimes my connection stayed in for hours, sometimes 30mins or so. Reconnecting always worked but I would get sent to a different server each time.

Probably it needs a reconnect on fail feature.

G’day Andrew
I was in the shack early this AM chatting on 30m when chasers began calling me, My alert is for 1800z today but the time of my first RBNhole spot was 1230z, well outside the time window. Delighted that RBNhole is up and running but thought you would want to know.
73,
John K1JD
PS I will be in VK2/VK7 this fall visiting my cousin and hope to active a few SOTA peaks while there

I’ve never had it drop shorter than 24 hours, and usually closer to 48. The issue is not so much the connection dropping as the connection staying on but without data being sent.

It needs a lot of features :smile: