The way I read the rule before was that CW Skimmer in any mode that was
generating spotting information was not allowed... wide band, narrow band,
didn't matter, the FIRST phrase of that rule
"Access to spotting information obtained directly or indirectly from any
source other than the station operator, such as from other stations or
automated tools, is prohibited"
seems to me to completely prohibit any source of spotting information either
from 'other stations' OR 'automated tools'... since CW Skimmer is an
automated tool that generates spotting information it is prohibited. I am
guessing that most other operators read it that way also and that is why
there was no real complaint about it.
The clarification does nothing to that first part of the rule, it just
muddies the water by calling out CW Skimmer along with other code readers
for copying exchange information... something that must be done one qso at a
time to make a contact... this doesn't seem to be a change since using code
readers seemed acceptable before.
As far as decoding multiple cw stations within the audio pass band, I don't
consider that any different than hot shot cw ops who run with ssb filters
and copy multiple callers at once. In the audio mode CW Skimmer is no
better, and sometimes worse due to audio distortion, than a good operator
copying by ear.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Smith [mailto:n4zr@contesting.com]
> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 19:43
> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] NAQP CW + Skimmer
>
> The Skimmer CW decoder is great, but when it is decoding one signal, it
> is also simultaneously decoding anything else that is within its
> passband, whether that is 3 KHz or 192 KHz. Only one signal is decoded
> at the bottom of the page, but you can read the others, including
> retrospectively, simply by clicking on them. Moreover, it can't keep
> itself from decoding the callsigns of stations that are within its
> passband.
>
> As Al has re-stated the rule, the example of CW Skimmer is perfectly
> appropriate, because it cannot be used in a single-signal mode solely to
> decode exchange information. It also happens to be the only extant
> example of its type, but who knows what may be coming next?
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
> www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
>
>
> On 12/23/2010 7:46 AM, David Robbins wrote:
> > that just goes to prove my point that brand names should be avoided. CW
> Skimmer is well known for generating spotting information so many people
> see that name and assume that is its only purpose. but it also makes a
> nice audio passband code reader. In this case it is lumped in with 'code
> readers' for copy 'exchange information', after specifically excluding all
> sources of spotting information... so 'obviously' the writer of the rule
> change understands that it can be used just as a code reader and wants to
> allow that while excluding the user from decoding a whole band for
> spotting purposes. While this is an improvement over other ways of
> writing the rule, it would still be better to leave off that brand name
> software and just state that audio bandwidth code readers are ok for
> making contacts.
> >
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