"G. Doughty" said :

Thank you, however, I do not have internet access upstairs. Only a phone
line. Is there a way to access via phone or is that too much to ask? I
don't have aol or anything, just broadband in one spot in the house and my
shack is upstairs.

Telnet is a text-only connection type between a server and your remote
node. Telnetting to a node is extremely easily, but there are ways of
making it easier still.

Get yourself a broadband router with 802.11 wireless, also known as
WiFi. They're relatively cheap, they serve as a nice hardware firewall
and with a WiFi card in your shack computer you can easily telnet to
one or more clusters and watch the spots roll in. An added bonus is
that WiFi cards don't generate the hash that most Cat 5e network
cables generate (a real problem for me, especially on 20m).

Once you have a connection to the 'net, I'd suggest using the VE7CC AR
Cluster config software. Bring it up, connect to the cluster of your
choice (there are hundreds of them -- pick one near you or even just
one with a 4 in its call if you're unsure). It doesn't really matter,
so long as it's a North American cluster.

Use the VE7CC software to configure that cluster connection to only
show you only the DX spots you want to see. For example, I'm not
interested in anything above 30 MHz, 60m or 160m, so I exclude those
spots. I also exclude any spots which originate outside of the 1,2, 3
& 8 call areas plus Canada west of Ontario (I'm in NYC). No sense
seeing how many west coasters are picking Asia clean on 15 long after
the band's dead closed in the east (my blood pressure's high enough,
hi hi).

Of course, you really should just rely on tuning the bands as your
primary source of DX hunting, but if you're going to use spotting,
telnetting in is really a nice, easy to use and powerful way to go.

You can telnet in on dialup, but depending on your terminal client
(the program you use to display what comes back), it may just
summarily close on you once the connection is lost. Having software
that keeps the spots after the connectiond dumps is a significant
advantage.

Don't forget, if you choose to use a computer log, most good ones have
a packet/telnet cluster interface as well so you can see at a glance
when a spot comes in if you need it as an all-time new country, new
band or new mode. In contests I find a steady cluster connection to be
a lifesaver (no more busted calls -- of course, you have to enter as
"assisted").

Good Luck!

73 de Peter, W2IRT
(ex-AB2NZ, VE3THX)

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