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BPQ User and SysOp Commands Cheat Sheet by

G8BPQ's Radio Packet Node and BBS

Node User Level 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

Node SysOp Level Commands

PASSWORD
When accessed remotely, a password prompt is sent, containing 5 random numbers in the range 1 to the length of the PASSWORD string as defined in the config­uration file.
Enter PASSWORD followed by the corres­ponding five letters from the password string.
If entered from a local terminal or via a Telnet session with SYSOP flag set you will go straight to SYSOP mode.
Supported commands:
Port Parameters
Display or update the corres­ponding parameter for a specified port
BBSALIAS
DIGIFLAG
DIGIFL­AG=­0/1/255

Digipeat control flag for this port.
0 = dont digi, 1 = digi everyt­hing, 255 = digi UI frames only.
DIGIPORT
DIGIPORT=N

Port to send digied frames on. Zero means the port it was received on, any other number means send on that port.
FRACK
FRACK=nnnn

Level 2 timout in millis­econds
FULLDUP
FULLDU­P=0|1

Passed on to TNC if using KISS.
Used to allow transm­ission whilst DCD is active on HDLC cards, and to allow connection of a NETROM cluster via a diode matrix.
L3ONLY
L3ONLY=0|1
If set to 1 will stop users (but not HOST sessions) issuing downlink connects on this port.
MAXFRAME
MAXFRAME=n

Maximum outsta­nding frames.
MAXUSERS
PACLEN
PACLEN=nnn

Default maximum packet length for this port
PERSIST
PERSIS­T=nnn

'Proba­bility to transmit' value (1-255)
QUALITY
QUALIT­Y=nnn

Default quality for nodes heard on this port. Set to zero to suppress all level 3/4 activity (including NODES broadc­asts) on this port.
RESPTIME
RESPTI­ME=nnnn

Level 2 delayed ack timer in millis­econds
RETRIES
RETRIES=n

Level 2 maximum retry value
SOFTDCD
SOFTDC­D=0|1

If set to 1, system uses the detection of a valid frame to indicate that the channel is busy, rather than the DCD signal from the modem. Used only for HDLC cards.
TXDELAY
TXDELA­Y=nnn

TX Keyup delay in millis­econds
TXTAIL
TXTAIL­=nnnn

TXTAIL timer in ms. Used only by KISS TNCs.
VALIDCALLS
VALIDC­ALL­S=CALLS

Up to about 40 callsigns, separated by single commas.
If present, only stations in the list will be allowed to connect to you on this port.
The SSID should not be specified. The total length of the list, including commas, is 256 bytes.
XMITOFF
Read or change the transm­itter DISABLE flag for one port.
XMITOFF port#
to read.
XMITOFF port# 1
to disable a port.
The default is 0, meaning the transm­itter is not stopped.
System Parameters
Display or update the corres­ponding Node parameter.
BTINTERVAL
Time interval the beacon is sent by the Node
FULLCTEXT
HIDENODES
Suppresses the display of NODES with an Alias that starts with a # sign.
IDINTERVAL
IDMSG is sent every IDINTERVAL minutes. It is sent from the PORT Callsign if one is defined, otherwise from NODECALL. The main purpose of this is to satisfy the requir­ements of those admini­str­ations that require a regular station identi­fic­ation in the same mode as used for commun­ica­tion.
L3TTL
Maximum Level 3 hops
L4DELAY
Level 4 Delayed ACK timer
L4TIMEOUT
Level 4 Timeout
L4RETRIES
Level 4 Retries
L4WINDOW
Level 4 Window
LINKEDFLAG
MHeard
Clears list of recently heard stations
MH p CLEAR
MINQUAL
MINQUA­L=NNN

Defines the minimum quality for a destin­ation to be included in a 'Nodes' broadcast on this port.
NODEID­LETIME
If there is no traffic for IDLETIME seconds, the link will be closed.
NODESINT
Time between NODES broadcasts (seconds)
OBSINIT
Initial Obsole­scence value
OBSMIN
Minimum Obsole­scence value to be included in NODES broadc­asts.
REMDUMP
T3
Link Validation Timer. If there is no activity for T3 seconds, an RR(P) command will be sent to make sure the other station is still there.
System Commands
FINDBUFFS
Used to help track down missing buffers if the buffer count goes very low, normally should only be used if I request it
GETPOR­TCTEXT
Re-read your Port CTEXT files
KISS p c v
Send KISS comman­d/value pair (eg for setting TXDELAY). Parameters are port, command and value (all in decimal)
REBOOT
Performs a shutdown -r -f in linux. This reboots the machine the node is running on.
RESTART
Instructs the node software to quit immedi­ately by setting CLOSING
ROUTES
To update
ROUTES CALL P parms

Use ! flag to toggle locked routes after parms
SAVEMH
Tells Node to save and restore MH lists when shut down and restarted
SAVENODES
Saves the NODES and ROUTES tables, so that they can be reloaded when the software is restarted, ; rather than having to wait for the tables to be rebuilt.
SENDNODES
STARTCMS p
These can be used to simulate CMS or Internet outage
STOPCMS p
Disable CMS acess on Telnet Port p.
STOPPO­RT n
STARTPORT n
Close or reopen Port n. Enables another program to use the port to allow the tnc to be reconf­igured without closing the node
TELReconfig
Reconf­igure Telnet Port p.
TELRec­onfig p ALL

TELRec­onfig p USERS

ALL does a conmplete reconfig and discon­nects users. This is equivalent to EXTRESTART p 1.
USERS just re-reads the USER records from config file.
WL2KSYSOP
WL2KSYSOP SET
Display inform­ation from your WINLINK 2000 SYSOP record, or create a basic record if you don't have one.
 

BBS User Level 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.

BBS SysOp Level Commands

AUTH
Authen­ticate for Remote SYSOP access.
Use program BPQAUTH to generate passcode.
DOHOUS­EKE­EPING
Run Housek­eeping process
EDITUSER callsign
Display callsign falgs
EDITUSER set flags
Set:
EDITUSER CALLSIGN FLAG1 FLAG2 ...

Clear:
EDITUSER CALLSIGN -FLAG1 -FLAG2 ...

Flags are: EXC(luded) EXP(ert) SYSOP BBS PMS EMAIL HOLD RMS(Ex­press User)
EXPORT
EXPORT nnn filename

Export Message nnn to file filename
FWD bbscall
Display settings
FWD interval
FWD BBSCALL interval

Set forwarding interval
FWD rev
FWD BBSCALL REV interval

Set reverse forwarding interval
FWD flags
FWD BBSCALL +- flags

Flags are EN(able) RE(verse Poll) SE(Send Immedi­ately)
FWD NOW
FWD BBSCALL NOW

Start a forwarding cycle now.
Can specify a Connect Script to use, overriding the configured script.
FWD ­QUEUE
List BBS's with queued messages
IMPORT filename
Import Messages from file filename
KH
Kills Held Messages.
K< callsign
Kills message from callsign
K> callsign
Kills message to callsign
LH
List HELD messages.
LK
List KILLED messages
POLLRMS
Sets the flags for other users.
POLLRMS CALL ENABLE­|DI­SABLE

REROUT­EMSGS
Rerun message routing process
SETNEX­TME­SSA­GEN­UMBER
Sets next message number
UH
Unhold messages.
UH ALL

UH msg# msg#...

Chat User 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
               
 

Comments

This has been immensley useful as I learn to sysop my county's BPQ node. I've since been working with local hams across the State of Maine to establish the Maine Packet Network group, and will be linking to this document from mainepacketradio.org.

Thank you so much for putting this together in a readable format!

73 de KC1JMH

gcremerius gcremerius, 18:43 26 Jun 22

Thanks your your comment and I'm glad this is helpful to the BPQ community!

73 de PY2BIL, Bill

Updated with new NODE command parameters

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