I live in a town of little packet activity and that puts me at the MOST outer edge of the area wide system. When the one and only packet repeater goes "belly up" the chances of getting out of this hole via packet radio are slim to nil. Occasionally, I can shoot a signal 75 miles across the mountains to another repeater. Slim! SO, that usually means no "dx cluster" via packet radio. However, not all is lost. The dx cluster via telnet-internet is a valuable work-a-round. I've listed some gateway info and addresses here if you'd like to try it. Go ahead, knock yourself out! It could save your bacon sometime.
Thanks to kf7e for the suggestion
If you've never used telnet that's ok, this short tutorial should get you started. Telnet is a method used to connect to another computer, and in this case, through your internet server. Your computer is the "local" machine. The one to which you want to connect is the "host" or "remote" computer. To connect to a dx cluster you will go through a "gateway" that allows you access to the "packet dx cluster". Once connected to the dx cluster you should be in familar territory.(If you're not familar with packet radio may I suggest you give it a try? It's really good fun.)
Just in case I succeeded in confusing the issue, here's the connect path again. Local(you)------> host(gateway)------> dx cluster. Telnet addresses can be in IP or DOMAIN NAME format. Domain name format looks something like this: "somewhere.ampr.org". An IP address like so: "120.110.32.5". Sometimes you'll see a number stuck to the end of a telnet address. That's the port number. The most commonly used port is 23 and most telnet programs start with that port unless you specify otherwise. There are some nifty windows telnet programs that isolate you from the dos-type atmosphere and do much of the connecting automatically. They all offer different levels of complexity and automation, so you'll have to play with them a bit. The most common "terminal emulation" is VT 100 and that's usually the telnet programs default setting.
Here's the basics for connecting to a remote computer:
1. Connect to your internet server.
2. Start the telnet program.
3. Enter the telnet address.
4. Log in to the remote computer.
5. Note what the "escape character" is.(You may need this if the remote computer expects you to know how to log off on your own. The escape character puts you back in the command mode so you can use the typed commands "QUIT" or "CLOSE".)
6. Set "local echo" to "on" if what you type doesn't appear on the screen.
7. If you telnetted to a dx cluster gateway you can now operate as you would with packet radio.
Below are some telnet programs for downloading that are small and easy to use. I've also included a few dx cluster addresses. Happy Hamming. Jer-ky5e
DXtelnet Koalaterm Tera Term Pro Telnet Ewan NARC FTP SITE
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