Reverse Beacon

 

Where to Get RBN Spots – For Users

In the last few days, it has become apparent that there is some confusion about where users can get RBN spots.  This brief note is an attempt to clear this up. 

First, for CW and RTTY spots, which are supplied identically to DX clusters around the world, the best resource is AD1C’s website, DXCluster.info.  If you look in the “Telnet Directory” on the site, you’ll find well over 100 clusters worldwide, sorted by country, that carry RBN spots.  Each is tagged with “(+RBN)” right under the callsign.  Since CW and RTTY spots are handled identically by the RBN server, this list should be users of those modes’ “go-to” resource.

It’s also worth noting that each major cluster software package takes a different approach to RBN spots.  ARCluster nodes carry RBN CW/RTTY spots by default unless turned off.  CC and DXSpider nodes require SET/SKIMMER to turn them on

FTx (FT4 and FT8) spots are a different matter.  They are distributed separately by the RBN, and are not carried by many DX clusters.

Following is a list of those clusters we know of now that carry FTx spots.  In many cases, these nodes require a SH/FT8 command to enable FT-8 spots

W9PA-5 (FT8 on by default)
VE7CC
N4ZKF
W4MYA
N7OD
WB3FFV
K9LC
K2CAN
N2WLS-5
PI1LAP-1
WB4QOJ
K0XM
W8BS
W9DP
GB7UJS

RBN spots are 99% accurate, but nowadays they also make up around 99 percent of all spots, so busted spots can be an issue.  Each of the three major DX cluster software packages employs its own sort of spot-quality filtering to get rid of busted spots.  Details are too complicated to go into here, and you’ll have to decide for yourself which works best for you.