[Skimmertalk] New RBN Aggregator Available (version 0.92b)

[Pete Smith]

Many CW Skimmer or Skimmer Server users are probably aware of the 
Reverse Beacon Network.  The RBN uses a small piece of software called 
the Aggregator to collect spots from CW Skimmers and Skimmer Servers all 
over the world and forward them to the RBN's database server.

Since the inception of the RBN, we have been using an effective 
bare-bones version of the Aggregator written by Felipe, PY1NB, founder 
of the RBN.  Now, thanks to the programming skills of Dick, W3OA, we 
have a new, Windows Aggregator in a near-final beta form, available for 
download and use.  In addition to being much easier to configure and 
use, the new Aggregator has some important new features.

* It adds the option of a master.dta check to Skimmer Server (like the 
Paranoid validation mode in CW Skimmer).

* It also allows users to send spots to the Aggregator without first 
filtering them to remove the non-CQ spots.  The Aggregator then forwards 
only those spots the RBN requests.  For now, that will be CQ spots for 
HF and all spots for 50 MHz and up.  In the near future this will allow 
us to experiment with spotting the NCDXA HF beacons, and probably other 
tricks that have not been possible up till now.

* And finally, the new Aggregator permits RBN contributors to connect 
locally to it with their logging programs, either taking advantage of 
the new filtering capability or not, as they wish.

For the full story and a download link, see the Reverse Beacon Network 
blog at http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/.

-- 
73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000