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BPQ User Commands Cheat Sheet by

G8BPQ's Radio Packet Node and BBS user commands

Node Commands

?
Displays a list of commonly used node commands, starting with all the sysop-­defined applic­ations first, then followed by the standard ones.
Attach
Get exclusive control of the port before connecting (for a single user, such as WINMOR or Pactor ports).
ATTACH [P]
C [CALL]
BBS
[sysop defined] Usual command to access the BBS and Mail system, but could be anything else defined by the sysop.
Bye or Quit
Disconnect from Node
CHAT
[sysop defined] Usual command to access the Chat system, but could be anything else defined by the sysop.
Connect
Initiates a connection to another node, or to a normal AX.25 user.
C P C­ALL­|AL­IAS­ ­[vi­a di­gi1­ ­[di­gi2...]­] [S]

P is the port number if you have more than 1
S for STAY to remain connected to the currrent node, when the connection to the next one is closed
The system will make an L4 (NETROM) connect to a call that is in your NODES table.
You can force a level 2 connect by specifying a port number and preceding the call with a !
CQ
Sends a beacon to address CQ.
Can only be used in LISTEN mode and only if LISTENing on one port.
IDLEtime
Sets the Idle session timeout for this session.
Info
Display inform­ation about this Node from the text from the config file
L4T1
Displays or sets the Level 4 timeout used for the current session. Sets the Level 4 (Netrom) retry timer for this session
Links
Lists the currently active AX.25 Sessions
S is the link state: 2=conn­ecting, 4=disc­onn­ecting, 5=connected.
P is the port.
T is the link type: 1=Uplink, 2=Down­link, 3=Node­-Node link.
V is the AX.25 Version (1 or 2).
LISten
Enters Listen mode on the specified port(s).
LIS P1... Pn

P port numbers
While in Listen mode you can't connect to other stations, and if someone calls you Listen is cancelled.
Type LISTEN OFF to exit listen mode.
MHeard
Lists stations heard recently on the specified port. 
MHEARD P [CALL]

P port number
Output can be filtered with a partial callsign, eg MH 2 G8
There are three variants:
MHV which lists in a more structured (verbose) way
MHU and MHL which display timestamps in clock time (UTC or Local) instead of the default of time since last heard.
Nodes
Lists all the other NETROM­/TH­ENE­T/BPQ Nodes known to your node.
N [VIA][­NOD­ECA­LL|­NOD­EAL­IAS­][*­]|[­C][T]

N on its own displays the whole table in alias order
NODECALL or NODEALIAS you can list the routes that the system will use to access that node
NODECALL* will display inform­ation for all SSID's of the specified call.
VIA NODECALL will display all stations reachable via the specified neighbour.
C Displays the whole table in callsign order. Can be placed before or after the pattern, eg N C GB7* or N GB7* C
T The Round Trip Times and frame counts for all nodes with a non-zero count.
Use of ? and * wildcards are allowed
The inform­ation after the callsign are only shown if some frames have been send to that node.
RTT stands for Round Trip Time, and is a rolling average of the time taken to get a response from that node (in seconds).
FR means Frames, the number of info frames sent to the node.
B if present, indicates the target is a BPQ node, and the number following the B is the number of hops to the target.
Up to 3 possible routes to the node are listed.
1st number displayed is the quality, the relative desira­bility of using this route rather than another.
2nd number is the obsole­sance count, an indication of how long it is since the system was last told about (or succes­sfully used) this route. The number starts at a value set in the config file (typically 5) and is decrem­ented each time a NODES broadcast is sent (typically evey hour).
3rd number is the port.
> indicates the currently active route.
NRR
Sends a Netrom Record Route message to the specified node. If the node is reachable and supports NRR, a message will be displayed showing the path that the message took to the target node and back.
NRR CALL
PAClen
Displays and sets the PACLEN value used for messages generated by the node (eg command respon­ses).
Ports
Lists available ports and shows the frequency and baud rate used as defined in the config­urarion file.
RADio
Used by the Rig Control Interface.
Routes
Lists the stations which this node can hear.
r [r]

> indicates that there is an active link to the node.
1st number is the port.
Call remote station call
2nd number is the quality, This may be derived from the 'default quality' parameter in the PORTS section of the config file, or may be specified explicitly in the ROUTES section. A value of zero will prevent the route from being used, and is normally used when you have a one-way or marginal path.
3rd number is is the number of NODES list entries which refer to this route. This isn't used by the software, it is just inform­ation for the user. .
! indicates a locked route, one entered in the CONFIG file or via SYSOPH. Other entries come and go as this node hears NODES broadcasts.
Additional inform­ation may be obtained by entering r r
The fields are:
* Info frames sent
* Info frames retransmitted
* Retry Rate: the ratio of the above 2, as a percentage (or * if both are zero)
* Non-st­andard maxframe (from Config file)
* Non-st­andard frack (from Config file)
* Time the last NODES broadcast was heard from this node.
* Number of frames queued to be sent.
* Remaining quality
Stats
Displays a number of counters.
Uptime (Days Hours Mins) Is the time since the system was loaded.
Semaphore Get-Re­l/C­lashes
Buffer­s:M­ax/­Cur­/Mi­n/O­ut/Wait Out is the number of times a request to allocate a buffer failed because there were none available.
Known Nodes/Max Nodes
L4 Connects Sent/Rxed
L4 Frames TX/RX/­Res­ent­/Reseq Resent is the number retran­smitted because an ACK wasn't received within the L4 timeout period. The Reseq is the number of frames received out of sequence, but subseq­uently used because the missing frame(s) eventually arrived.
REJ Frames Rxed A large number may indicate that your Maxframe is too high. Similarly a large number in 'RX out of sequence' may indicate the the station talking to you has too large a maxframe.
RX Overruns indicate characters lost because the software didn't process the interrupts fast enough.
Undrun­/Poll T/o indicate a problem in responding to TX interr­upts. Only used for HDLC cards.
Frames abandoned number of frames discarded because they have been waiting to be sent (for DCD to clear) for more than 60 secs. Only used for HDLC cards.
Link Active % The first is the % of time in the last minute that your station was transm­itting, and the second the % the channel was active. Only used for HDLC cards.

There is one set of level 2 counters for each port.
If you have more than 7 ports the display starts to look a bit untidy, so there are now two options on the STATS command:
S S Displays just the system and L3/4 stats
S n Displays just the port stats, starting with port N, for a maximum of 7 ports.
SYSOP
[sysop defined] Usual command to Talk to the Sysop (if available) but could be anything else defined by the sysop.
UNproto
Enters UNPROTO mode, where you can send UI messages.
UN P CALL [Digis]

When in Unproto Mode anything you type will be send as a UI frame to the port and destin­ation you specified.
This could be used in conjun­ction with the LISTEN command to have an multiuser conversation.
Use Ctrl/Z to exit UNPROTO mode
Users
Lists the stations currently using the node.
The Number on the end of the header line is the number of free buffers.
Host is an internal (Normally BBS Port)
Circuit is a link from/to another node.
Uplink is a connection from a normal AX.25 station.
Downlink is a connection to a normal user.
<--> indicates an active session.
<~~> indicates a session being set up.
Version
Displays the version number of the Node software
Only the bolded part of each command is required
  

BBS Commands

? or Help
Displays a list of commands.
A
Abort the BBS output while paging.
Bye
Discon­nects from the BBS.
CMSPASS password
Sets password for access to Winlink COM Servers.
D num
Flag NTS Message(s) as Delivered
FILES or LISTFILES
List files available for download
Home
Enters or modifies the Home BBS. A point deletes the current Home BBS.
I
Displays inform­ation about this BBS.
I callsign
Gives the inform­ation on callsign taken from the white pages database. Callsign can include wildcards.
I@ bbs
Gives the users of bbs found in the WP database.
IH route
Gives the users of the hierar­chical route area from the WP database.
IZ zip
Gives the users of the zip code area from WP database.
K-commands delete messages sent by you or to you.
K msg#
Deletes a message identified by its number.
KM
Deletes all the messages addressed to you, that you haven't yet read.
L-commands list message headers.
L
Lists the new messages since the last usage of this command.
L< callsign
Lists message from callsign
L> callsign
Lists message to callsign
L@ bbs
Lists the messages via bbs.
L msg#-
Lists all messages, starting from msg#
L msg#-msg#
Lists messages between the given numbers.
Lx
List messages with status x - x can be N Y H K F D $.
LB
Lists bulletins.
LC
Lists all Bulletin "­cat­ego­rie­s" (TO Fields)
LL n
Lists the last n messages.
LM
Lists the messages to you.
LP
Lists personal messages
LR
Equivalent to L but the messages are listed in reverse order.
LT
List Traffic (NTS-m­ess­ages).
N
Enters or modifies your name (max 12 characters allowed).
NODE
Exits BBS and returns to Node.
OP num
Enables or disables the paging of output by specifying the num of lines.
0 disables pagung
POLLRMS
nables or disables polling RMS for messages for you.
POLLRMS Enable­|DI­SABLE

POLLRMS SSID1 SSID2 ... SSIDn

(for the base call, specify SSID of 0)
eg POLLRMS 0 1 15 will look for messages to CALL, CALL-1, CALL-15
Q
Enters or modifies QTH.
R-commands read messages.
R msg# msg#
Reads the messages by their numbers.
RM
Reads new messages to you.
RMR
Read my new messages in reverse order (oldest first)
READ name
Read File from Files area.
S-commands send messages.
S
 
S[P|B] callsign

Sends a message or a bulletin.
S call
Sends a message as private.
SP
Sends a message as private.
S @BBS
 
S callsign @ BBSCAL­LSIGN

Sends a message to a station AT another BBS.
The message must be terminated by a Ctrl/Z or /EX followed by a return.
SC
 
SC Msg# callsign @ BBSCAL­LSIGN

Copies a message or bulletin to the specified callsign.
SR
 
SR Msg#

Replies to a message.
V
Displays Version number of the BBS and Node software.
X
Toggles Expert Mode.
YAPP
 
YAPP name

Download file from File area.
Z
Enters or modifies the Zip Code.

Chat Commands

/A
Toggle Alert on user join.
/Auto
Toggle Automatic character set selection.
/B
Leave Chat and return to node.
/C
Toggle Colour Mode on or off
(only works on Console or BPQTer­minal)
/E
Toggle Echo
/F
Force all links to be made.
/J name
Join Topic or Create new Topic.
Topic Names are not case sensitive.
/K
Show Known nodes.
/Keepalive
Toggle sending Keepalive messages every 10 minutes.
/N
Enter your Name
/P
Show Ports and Links
/Q
Enter your QTH
/QUIT
Leave Chat and disconnect from node
/S call text
Send Text to that station only.
/ShowNames
Toggle displaying name as well as call on each message.
/T
Show Topics
/Time
Toggle displaying timestamp on each message.
/U
Show users
/UTF-8
Toggle Character set Selection - UTF* or 8 bit.

Credits

BPQ/BPQ32 system and docume­ntation © by John Wiseman, G8BPQ
Adapted and formatted by Guillermo Bill Cremerius, PY2BIL - LU7ECX
Contri­butions by Tadd C. Torborg, KA2DEW
           
 

Metadata

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  • Published: 29th February, 2020
  • Last Updated: 26th June, 2022

Favourited By

jeaninem71

Comments

Updated with new NODE command parameters

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