Dave Heil wrote:
K=D8HB wrote:
wrote


I'm aware of stations who use packet spots during contests and who claim
SO status. There's no real way to put that genie back into the bottle.

Actually the contest sponsers have gotten pretty good at detecting
those bad boys. They've developed software which automatically combs
thru logs and looks for patterns which indicate who did what when spots
show up. Lotta those guys scores have been tossed.

That's a logical extension of SO2R, and I believe that the station desi=
gner who
makes it work ought to remain in SO category and not be "punished" for =
his
innovation and design effort.

I disagree. The robot is, in effect, a second op.

I also disagree because when you get right down to it it's functionally
the same as using the spots. If it worked well enough though it would
probably be better than the spots because it would be "operating" under
the same propagation/reception condx as the rest of the station.

You can waste a lotta time chasing spots even if they are posted by
locals. Sure, the guy three Zip codes over with his 3EL 40M beam @ 150
feet can easily pick off that JT. But I'm sitting here with my weenie
dipole @ 40 feet and I can't hear a peep from the JT. In the meanwhile
I've wasted two minutes on a spots-induced wild goose chase.

Similar things already exist. CT and NA both have a feature called "Su=
per Check
Partial" which provide "matches" from a database of calls harvested from
previous contests. For example, if you enter the partial call "K0H", i=
t will
show you several choices of calls like K0HA, K0HB, SK0HL, IK0HBN, all o=
f which
contain the sequence "K0H". Because that's information not gathered "of=
f the air
during the contest", purists consider it "outside assistance" and feel =
it should
disqualify the entrant from SO and place them in an assisted category.

If I'm not mistaken those files can be used with all the mainstream
loggers these days.

I don't even have the files in CT and I'm with the purists on this one.

Purists draw only this line between SO and "multi-op" or "assisted". E=
very bit
of information which goes into an SO log must be gathered off the air d=
uring the
contest period by a single operator and his equipment without outside a=
ssitance
such as packet clusters, harvested data-bases, and similar aids.

I'm with K3ZO on the SO2R scene: It is a lot of extra work and trouble

It's certainly a lot of extra work and trouble I wouldn't even think
about getting into. But I'm not "everybody", involves the mindsets of
the specific ops. The hardcore types could care less, to them it's just
one more hill to climb to get even-up with their competitors. In many
cases they actually *enjoy* all the complexity & work. Money be damned.


and I'm of the opinion that a good SO can usually equal or beat the 2R op.

Published scores trump opinions David.

I don't think automation has necessarily been a good thing for
contesting. Computer logging aside, it has removed a good bit of the
"fun factor" in contesting.

Depends on where the op gets his jollies. One of the local EEs doesn't
do much operating but he's the guru of gurus nationally when it comes
to designing/building wonderous 2R and M-M black boxes and running the
Spider spots network. Different strokes for different folks top to
bottom in contesting.

I've never even used the keyboard or
computer for sending during a contest and don't do much with a memory
keyer. I'm beginning to think that Father Time and automation have
combined to reduce my interest in going for score in most contests.

You have a *huge* amount of company on this one. My iron-bottom days
are *long* gone. Geez, dunno how many times I did 40-48 hours at some
multi-multi or another back when. Back when I was 30-40 something of
course. These days my critical piece of "automation" is my alarm
clock.groan.

I
find that my interest in single band efforts is increased, mostly
because it allows me to get some sleep.

Less hassles all 'round. I have antenna installation restrictions and
electrical noise here but I'm hoping to squeeze a 20M antenna up and go
100W S&P mode simply to keep the my dust & rust level down.

Dave K8MN

w3rv